


Of Spiders & Iron & Father Figures(?)

by bethy_277



Series: The Depth of Despair and Back [3]
Category: Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Awesome Clint Barton, Awesome Pepper Potts, Bruce Banner Is a Good Bro, Dead May Parker (Spider-Man), Father-Son Relationship, Gen, Parent Tony Stark, Peter Parker Needs a Hug, Precious Peter Parker, Protective Clint Barton, Protective Natasha Romanov, Protective Pepper Potts, Protective Steve Rogers, Protective Tony Stark, Tony Stark Acting as Peter Parker's Parental Figure, Tony Stark Has A Heart
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-18
Updated: 2019-07-09
Packaged: 2019-10-31 04:34:41
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 17
Words: 46,784
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17842547
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bethy_277/pseuds/bethy_277
Summary: After Peter loses May, the team bands together to keep Peter safe while trying to find the people responsible.





	1. Chapter One

**Author's Note:**

> I wasn't going to post this yet but  
> 1\. I'm home sick from work today.  
> 2\. I keep making changes to this and I need to just post it, and hopefully that will help me stop changing things. 
> 
> This is the third installment in the Despair series, so if you haven't read the first two- read those first. :)
> 
> This is going to be slower-going than the other two parts of this- it is going to both be working on finding the people responsible, and the team keeping Peter afloat and living.

“Tony?” A voice at the door to the lab broke into Tony’s consciousness. He jerked away from his computer to see Pepper and Steve standing at the door. Pepper had a plate of food in her hands and the smell made Tony’s stomach growl.

“What’s the time?” He asked.

“7am, JARVIS says you’ve been in here for the past 20 hours.” Steve replied. Tony looked around the lab to see that Bruce, who had been in the lab with him, was gone.

“When did Bruce leave?”

“Bruce left 7 hours ago.” JARVIS supplied.

“Wait, what?” Tony asked surprised. He hadn’t even been aware of Bruce leaving, he had been so absorbed in his work.

“You need to take a break Tony. You’re running yourself into the ground.” Pepper told him. She walked over to the table and set down the plate in front of Tony. He could see the eggs, bacon and toast on the plate and his stomach growled again.

He rubbed his hand down his face- aware of how exhausted he felt. It had only been 2 days since the funeral and he had spent most of that time in his lab, looking at as much information as he could regarding the senator and May’s kidnapping.

He picked up the fork that Pepper handed him and started shoving eggs into his mouth, groaning happily at the delicious tasting eggs. Steve and Pepper both sat themselves down next to him as he ate.

“How’s the kid?” Tony asked Steve. He knew he should have been paying more attention to Peter but finding the senator seemed more important. He owed that to the kid.

“Grieving. Sam managed to get some food in him a little while ago but he went back to bed after.” Steve replied. “He asked for you a few times. You should go and see him.”

Tony paused in shoveling the eggs into his mouth, shaking his head.

“Yes Tony.”

“No.” Tony said. “This is more important. Peter has all of you, I need to sort this out first.”

“Tony…”  Pepper started. “The kid needs you right now.”

“And I need to find the senator and figure this out!” Tony yelled, dropping the fork and shoving the plate away from him. He put his head in his hands as his head throbbed at his outburst.

“Tony, we have time to figure out where the senator is, and what happened. Right now you need rest and then you need to go to Peter.”

“The-“ Tony lifted his head and gestured towards his screen that he had been staring at. He had hacked into cameras in the senators office in DC to see if he could see him, but he had had zero luck.

“I’ll stay.” Steve said.

“Nope. No one gets to stay in my lab alone.” Tony replied.

“I’ll stay with him too.” Bruce said as he walked in the door. He looked more refreshed than he had when Tony had seen him last, a coffee mug in his hand.  He walked over to Tony, looking at him critically.

“Go.”

Tony sighed as he let Pepper pull on his hands and pull him up from his chair. She looped her hand in one of his arms and grabbed the plate of food with the other. She pulled on him and he let her drag himself out of the lab.

They headed to the elevator to head back up to their floor, and Tony slumped against Pepper as the doors closed, his whole body tired. She squeezed his shoulder.

“You can’t run yourself into the ground. You have a teenager looking to you now.” She said.

“I know.” Tony muttered. He sighed as he looked at Pepper. “A wonderful, full of life teenager who just lost everything. Putting in for guardianship was easy, getting him through those first few days was easy, but I don’t know how to fully take care of him. He told us he doesn’t want to be Spiderman and he loves being Spiderman more than anything.”

“You just need to be there for him like you were at the funeral. He just needs someone to be there for him.”

“He has all of the others.” Tony replied.

“But he wants you. You are like a father to him Tony. He wants you.”

The elevator opened up and Tony and Pepper stepped out. They were surprised to see Sam sitting on the couch with a wide awake Peter, the two talking softly.

“Sam.” Tony said and the two looked up.

“Hey Tony.” Sam said. “I’ll talk to you later, okay?” Sam said to Peter who nodded before Sam got up and headed towards Tony and Pepper.

“Talk to him.” Sam said to Tony as he walked past to head to the elevator. Tony looked back at Peter, who was holding a pillow to his chest and looking lost. His heart lurched as he could see the tear stains on Peter’s face as the teenager stared at the ground. Pepper lightly pushed Tony towards the couch and he stumbled slightly before righting himself and heading to Peter.

“Hey kid.” He sat down next to the teenager on the couch and said teenager looked in his direction.

“Hi Tony.” He whispered.

“How are you doing?”

“I’m tired.”

“Do you want to lie down?” Tony asked. Peter nodded. “Gimme the pillow.”

Peter handed over the pillow he was holding and Tony set it on his lap. “Lie down.” Peter shifted himself further down the couch until he was able to set his head on Tony’s lap. He turned his head so he was facing Tony’s stomach but Tony could see the tears coming down his face.

“Hey, you want to talk?”

“I miss her. I miss her so much it hurts.” Peter whispered. “It’s so painful. I feel like I can’t breathe.”

“I’m so sorry kid. God, I’m sorry.” Tony said back. Peter didn’t respond but just closed his eyes, his breathing deepening as he fell asleep.

Tony watched him for a few moments before Pepper came to sit down near them on the chair next to the couch.

“Is he asleep?” She asked Tony, motioning to Peter.

“He is.” Tony affirmed.

“You should get some sleep yourself. I’ll be here if he needs anything.” Pepper suggested softly. Tony nodded and responded by closing his tired eyes.

-

He wasn’t sure how long he was asleep for but he woke up to someone touching his shoulder lightly. He jolted slightly in surprise before opening his eyes. Rhodey was kneeling in front of the couch. Tony blinked his eyes more open, lifting an arm to rub the sleep out of them and clear his foggy head. He looked around to see Pepper still sitting on the couch, working on her pad and Peter still lying on his lap. He had shifted around so his face was facing Pepper instead of Tony’s stomach and his hand had moved to rest on one of Tony’s arms.

“Rhodey! What are you doing here? What time is it?” Tony coughed as his voice came out hoarse.  

“It’s 1pm. You’ve been asleep for a few hours. He hasn’t stirred at all.” Pepper responded.

“I heard about what happened. We just got back from the mission a few hours ago. Heard about the kids’ aunt and his identity.” Rhodey responded. He got back up from the side of the couch to put himself into the other chair in the room. “Everyone okay?”

“Aside from the kids’ aunt, we’re all okay.” Tony replied.

“What even happened?” Rhodey asked.

“We still don’t know. I’ve been looking for the senator for the past number of hours. Steve and Bruce are looking now.” Tony said.

“Heard you signed guardianship papers.” Rhodey commented.

“I did.” Tony responded.

“It’s a good look on you. Being a dad.” Rhodey said and Tony gave him a look.

“I’m not his dad.”

“Could have fooled me. Face it Tones, you’re a dad now.”

Tony sighed as he looked back down at Peter. The boys’ face was completely relaxed in sleep, more relaxed than Tony had seen him in a while and Tony felt relief in his chest.

“Tony, we need to have a press conference.” Pepper spoke up, looking from her phone. “The press has been creating all sorts of theories- we need to get a lid on everything.”

“I don’t think I can leave him.” Tony motioned to the teenager.

“You’ll have to be there. I’m really sorry.” Pepper did look sorry as he spoke to Tony.

“I can stay with him Tony.” Rhodey offered.

“It’s scheduled for a half hour from now.“ Pepper said getting up. “You need to shower.”

“Let me know if you need anything.” Tony said getting up as a thought occurred to him. He looked up to the ceiling. “JARVIS. New setting- if Peter ever needs anything- no matter the time- you let me know immediately.”

“Of course sir.” JARVIS replied.

“I’ll be downstairs. I’m going to have Steve and Natasha join us for the conference.” Pepper said to Tony as she headed to the elevator.

Tony sighed as he carefully got up, lifting Peter’s head up carefully as he scooted out from underneath him. He set the boys’ head down as Rhodey slid a pillow under him. Tony grabbed the blanket from the couch and laid it over Peter. As he did so, he thought about how many times he had done this in the last few days.

“Go. We’ll be fine, and if we aren’t- JARVIS will let you know.” Rhodey pushed him towards the bathroom as he sat himself at the end of the couch by Peter.

Tony rushed into the bathroom and into the shower before jumping back out 10 minutes later. He stood at the sink, using the electric razor to trim up his goatee. He rushed to his closest and pulled out one of his favorite suits- a 3 piece dark blue with a white button up underneath. As he headed out of the closest, he grabbed a red tie and brown dress shoes, tying the tie as he headed out of the room.  

Upon leaving his bedroom, he looked over at the couch to see Peter and Rhodey still there. Peter was still asleep, under the blanket. Rhodey was staring at the tv, the volume turned down low. Tony paused to put on the shoes he was still holding in his hands.

“I’m going to watch you smack down on the reporters.”

Tony smiled as he took a last look at Peter and then headed down to the first floor where the press conference was going to happen. He could hear voices inside one of the conference rooms as he approached- seeing Steve and Natasha standing there with Pepper. They turned around upon seeing Tony and he could see the question in their eyes.

“He’s asleep. Rhodey’s with him.”

“Okay, we’re ready.” Pepper said and nodded to the others. “I’m going to speak, Tony is going to answer questions and we’ll be done. You don’t have to say anything.” Pepper directed the last comment at Steve and Natasha who nodded. They all followed Pepper into the room, the noise escalating as they walked through the door.

Pepper walked straight up to the podium confidently and the voices quieted immediately.

“As you are all aware, we have had a trying last week. The Avengers were attacked and then Spiderman’s identity was revealed and exploited. An innocent woman was killed- this woman was someone who meant a lot to the Avengers- all of the Avengers. We will be working with the authorities while we work to bring justice for May Parker. Tony is going to answer some questions now.”

Tony stepped forward as Pepper took a step back. The reporter’s hands all shot up and he nodded towards one at the front.

“Spiderman’s identity has been revealed as Peter Parker.” Tony had to hold back the sarcasm in his voice as he answered the statement.

“That is correct. It was not our choice for his identity to be revealed but that is correct.”

“How long have you known? Records show he’s been your intern at Stark Industries. Did you know when he started as your intern?”

“I have known since before Peter started working with me. I recruited him initially because of his abilities but then I learned how smart he is.”

“Is he yours?”

“He is not mine biologically.”

“Did his aunt know about Spiderman?”

“She did know.”

“Can we talk to Peter?”

“Absolutely not.”

“Why not? He should speak for himself.” That last comment came from a gentleman in the second row and Tony threw a furious look in his direction.

“Peter is a child. A child who just lost his last living relative. He will not be doing any press conferences at this time.”

“Speaking of that, there is talk that you adopted him?” The same reporter asked. “Was that just a publicity stunt? We all know that you love publicity.”

“Who are you?” Tony spat out angrily.

“Mark Smith- Daily News. I’m just trying to get the information that everyone wants.”

“To answer your question and apparently the question that everyone wants to hear, I am Peter Parker’s legal guardian. I did not adopt him, it was not a publicity stunt. Peter Parker is by no means a publicity stunt. Moving on.” Tony dismissed the reporter as he turned to another one.

“How did he get his powers? Did you create Spiderman? Did you enable a minor?”

“No I absolutely did not. Peter was bitten by a radioactive spider. I only assisted in making him more safe.”

“Did May Parker suffer?”

“What kind of question is that?” Steve spoke up from behind Tony before Tony could answer. That question came from a reporter in the back. She was standing looking completely relaxed.

“How could you possibly ask that and why would you want the answer to that?!” Steve was angry. Natasha placed a hand on his arm, keeping him from walking forward to the reporter and throwing a punch.

“It’s just a question.” The reporter shrugged.

“Not an appropriate one. May Parker was an innocent woman who suffered an awful death and who did so many wonderful things in life. The way she died does not to be talked about.” Steve was almost yelling and Pepper stepped forward.

“That ends the press conference. No more questions will be asked today. We request that you stop printing items about Peter Parker as he is a minor and he deserves space while he grieves his aunt..” Pepper turned away from the podium- grabbing Tony’s arm as she went, pulling him along with her. Natasha and Steve followed them as they headed out through the doors and away from the room.

Steve pulled away from Natasha’s arm angrily and stormed off towards the elevator.

“Steve?” Pepper called after him.

“I’m going to the gym.” Steve yelled back as he angrily punched the buttons on the elevator to head down.

The others watched as the elevator opened and then closed again once Steve was in it.

“They didn’t even ask about the senator. All they wanted was information on Peter. That was useless.” Tony said to Pepper as they pushed the button to head to the upper floors.

“It wasn’t Tony. At the very least, you confirmed that Peter isn’t yours. The reports on that were getting quite extreme.” Natasha spoke up.

“He is mine.” Tony shot out before thinking and the two women looked at him. “He’s mine now.” If Tony hadn’t thought about that before now, he definitely was at that moment. The anger he had felt at the press conference had made him realize the love and protection that he wanted to surround Peter with, and how he was going to do much better than his dad had with him. He didn’t have a clue what he was going to do, but he knew he wanted to protect the teenager with everything he had.

“There’s a gathering outside the front doors right now. I have Officers Stewart and Cass here and others outside.” Pepper announced.

Tony nodded. He knew those officers and trusted them. They had been with the team since almost the beginning and were both very good at their jobs. Tony looked towards said doors and saw both officers Pepper had mentioned- the older male Stewart and the middle-aged female Cass. They both gave him a wave as they saw him looking, and both headed over to them.

“Tony.” Cass said smiling.

“Good to see you Stark.” Stewart greeted. Tony reached out to shake the police officer’s hand.

“Thank you for coming here.” Pepper said to the two of them.

“Of course. You know we’d always be here to protect all of you. I mean, JARVIS knows us and lets us in. I can’t imagine many people have that access.”  Stewart said smiling.

“Thank you both, truly.” Natasha said.

“We’d better get back over there. Have to make sure we keep protecting all you lot.” Cass said.  

Tony nodded and the two police officers headed back over to the door, facing the outside.

“We’re lucky to have them.” Pepper commented and Tony nodded. “Lets go back upstairs. I know you’re anxious to see Peter.”

Tony looked at Pepper surprised, she smiled back at him. “It’s all over your face.”

Pepper intertwined her fingers into Tony’s and gently pulled him towards the elevator, Natasha following behind them. The elevator lifted them up to Tony’s floor and they exited to see Rhodey and Peter still in their same positions as before.

Rhodey looked up as the three came into his view and smiled at them.

“He hasn’t woken up.”

Tony glanced at the couch to see the teenager still lying on the couch where Tony had left him, his face lax with sleep. Pepper walked over to him and placed her hand lightly on the teenagers face, Peter not even stirring at the touch.


	2. Chapter Two

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi all. Here is Chapter 2. There were so many hits, kudos, bookmarks and subscriptions from that first chapter and as a writer, that is so thrilling to see that people are reading my writings and want to see more! 
> 
> This story is going to flip between Tony and Peter's POV, but it will be obvious right away whose POV the chapter is in. 
> 
> Without further adieu, here is Chapter 2.
> 
> Disclaimer: The usual- I don't own anything Marvel.

The fire was roaring, the heat intense as Peter stood before it.

“Peter! Peter help me!” A voice was screaming and Peter was frozen. He tried to make himself move but he was frozen to the ground. He couldn’t make his feet move, despite the desperate attempts that he made. The fire was only getting stronger, and he was screaming with his all his might.

“May! I’m trying! I’m coming! Just hold on, please! I’m coming! I’m coming!”

“Peter! Help me! Help me!” The voice continued screaming and Peter was screaming along with it. The fire lessened minutely and Peter could see a figure standing in the door, holding out their hand to him. He pulled against the invisible force holding him to the ground as he tried to get to the person. The tears were rolling down his cheeks, as he fought desperately. He watched as the figure in the doorway disappeared and the screams from the voice disappeared.

“No! No!” Peter screamed as he collapsed on the ground.

“Peter… Wake up.”

“No! Come back!”

“Peter!” A another voice broke into Peter’s dream. There was a warm hand on his shoulder and the person was gently shaking him. He opened his eyes and saw Tony above him. His eyes looked tired but full of compassion as he looked at Peter. The tears from Peter’s dream were still running down his face and Tony reached over to wipe them away.

“What time is it?” Peter asked. Tony was definitely wearing his pajamas and Peter knew he must have woken him up.

“It’s early morning.” Tony replied.

“Did I wake you up?” Peter asked.

“I told JARVIS to alert me whenever you need me.” Tony replied. He moved back and he was out of Peter’s vision. Peter pushed himself up to see Tony grabbing the Star Wars blanket off of his chair and coming back over to the bed.

“You should take that off. I don’t want to wake you up.” Peter said.

“Not happening.” Tony replied.

“JARVIS?” Peter asked.

“I am sorry Peter. Sir has control over that protocol.” JARVIS replied.

“What are you doing?” Peter asked Tony who was getting onto Peter’s other side and wrapping the blanket on himself.

“I’m getting on the bed.” Tony responded.

“Yes, but why?” Peter asked confused.

“I’m staying here until you go back to sleep Bud.” Tony shrugged. “So lie down.”

Peter lay down as Tony suggested but he felt too keyed up to fall asleep. Tony noticed this and he heard him sigh.

“Want to tell me about it?”

“No.” Peter shook his head. He didn’t want to bother Tony. He was already thinking in his head of how he could override the program that made JARVIS instruct Tony if he needed anything. He’d had nightmares after Ben died that had lasted for months, and he was certain that was going to happen again. He couldn’t keep waking Tony up if he had a nightmare and getting rid of that protocol was one thing that would help with that.

“Pete? What are you thinking about?” Tony leaned over to ask Peter.

“Just stuff.” Peter replied.

“Just stuff? Care to elaborate?”

“No.” Peter said. He wouldn’t tell Tony what he was thinking about, and he certainly wouldn’t share with him what the nightmares were about. Tony had been so good to him and he wouldn’t burden him with his problems. Tony was still looking at him, so he shut his eyes.

-

He was only pretending to go back to sleep but he must have drifted off sometime because when he opened his eyes again, it was early morning and the light was coming in through his window.

He felt a weight on his arm and looked over to see Tony still lying there, fast asleep and wrapped up in Peter’s Star Wars blanket. Peter shuffled his arm away so that Tony wasn’t lying on it anymore and headed to the bathroom.

Peter looked at himself in the mirror, face pale and eyes tired and red. He hadn’t managed to make it through a single day without crying and it had been 2 weeks since the fire and he had lost May. His stomach clenched as he thought about his aunt and the accident. He hadn’t had his eyes on his phone since the initial attack, so he hadn’t heard from anyone, not even MJ and Ned.

He pulled himself together as he exited the bathroom- looking over to see Tony still passed out on his bed. He grabbed a hoodie from his floor as he exited his bedroom- closing the door softly behind him.

“Peter?” Pepper called out as Peter came into the living room. He looked up at the woman who was smiling at him. “Hi honey.”

Peter jolted at the words as she said them. Those were May’s words- her pet name for him. Pepper noticed his jerk and gave him a concerned look as she walked over to him. “Are you okay?”

“Honey- that was May’s-“ Peter tried to get out from between gritted teeth. He was doing his best not to start crying in the living room again.

“Oh Peter, I’m so sorry. I won’t use it again.” Pepper said. She put her hands on Peter’s shoulders and then tentatively pulled him into a hug. The touch caused Peter to lose his battle on the tears and they started flowing.

“I’m so sorry- I can’t stop.” He blubbered out as Pepper tightened her grip.

“No apologies sweetie. Let yourself cry. Let it all out.” Pepper said kindly which caused Peter to sob again. Pepper held onto him until the tears subsided and Peter pulled back.

“Hi.” Pepper said looking at his face when she let her arms drop away.

“Tony’s asleep in there.” Peter said motioning towards his room.

“I know. He went to check on you and never came back.” Pepper smiled but her words made Peter’s heart lurch.

“Did I wake you up too? I’m so sorry!” He apologized but Pepper shook her head.

“It’s okay Peter. If you’re in distress, we want to know.”

Peter immediately increased his resolve to get Jarvis to not alert Tony when he was in distress. It would be number one on his to do list.

“Peter, Tony got this set up for you last night. We found your phone but it was smashed.” Pepper went to the counter and grabbed something which she then handed to Peter. It was a starkphone- one of the newest models. 

“It’s a new number but MJ and Ned’s phone numbers are in there, along with mine, Tony’s, Happy’s and all of the Avengers. We all have your number saved too. You should text your friends. They’ve been blowing up Happy’s phone asking about you. I think he’s about to explode.”

Peter smiled as he unlocked the phone, searching for MJ and Ned’s phone numbers before texting them.

_8:32am Peter.  
Hi. It’s Peter._

_8:33am Ned  
Peter- OMG. How are you?_

_8:34am Michelle  
Hey loser. How are you doing?_

_8:36am Peter  
I’m okay. _

_8:40am Ned  
Happy wouldn’t tell us anything! We’re so sorry about May._

_8:42am Michelle  
Are they treating you okay there?_

_8:43am Peter  
They are. Tony has been great._

_8:44am Ned  
He’s your guardian now! That’s so crazy. I mean, it sucks why though._

_8:45am Michelle  
Way to go Ned_

_8:46am Ned  
Sorry. Can we see you soon? We haven’t seen you in forever_

_8:47am Michelle  
We’ll come to the Tower. It’s crazy out here right now with your identity being leaked._

Peter nearly dropped his phone as Michelle’s text came through, reminding him that his identity had been leaked. He had barely seen the outside of the tower in the past few weeks, only leaving for the funeral which he hardly remembered, and hadn’t seen any of the repercussions of the leaking of his identity. Losing May had been the main focus of his attention.

_8:50am Michelle  
Peter?_

_9:00am Peter  
I’ll let you both know_

“Pepper?” Peter asked, putting the phone away. A month ago, he would have been stoked with the phone and exploring all of the gadgets but now he just didn’t care about that.

“Yes?” Pepper asked, looking up from her own phone.

“What’s going on with my identity being leaked?”

“We had a press conference a few days ago. Asked everyone to leave you alone for now.” Pepper replied.

“But everyone knows?” Peter asked.

“Unfortunately they do.”

Peter pulled his phone back out, and pulled up Google. He typed his name into the search bar, and looked at the first news article that popped up- from the Daily Mail.

**Is May Parker really dead? Or is it all a ruse for Tony Stark to adopt his biological son? Or did Tony Stark cause the accident?**

Mark Smith- Daily News Reporter

_Tony Stark says that Peter Parker, also known as Spiderman, is not his biological son but is there anyone out there who really believes that? I know, I for one, do not. It took far too long for them to deny that report._

_May Parker was the legal guardian of Peter Parker- or should we say Peter Stark- and the only barrier to Tony Stark having guardianship over Peter. Stark filed very quickly for guardianship after the fire at the warehouse-suspiciously quick if you ask me. It would make sense for the Avengers to decide that they wanted Peter all to their own and make up a situation that would enable them to take care of Peter’s aunt, and let Stark get guardianship of the enhanced teenager._

_Tony Stark seemed very determined at the last press conference that Peter would not get to talk to the press- is there a reason behind this? Could it be that they are keeping the teenager silent about what actually happened? There’s still so much that has not been said about the incidents that led to what the Avengers are claiming, and there is no evidence to collaborate some of the Avengers claims. Which leads many people, myself included, to question whether or not the Avengers can actually be trusted._

A touch to Peter’s shoulder made him jump. The hand disappeared and Peter looked up. Tony was standing behind him, looking tired still but very much awake. Peter’s face must have looked off as Tony was immediately sitting beside him, looking concerned.

“What’s up?”

Peter didn’t trust his voice, so he threw the phone at Tony. The man caught it and started to read the article. Peter watched his eyes darken and his face turn red as he read the article. Peter grabbed the pillow next to him, and hugged it to his chest.

“Tony?” Pepper asked and Tony tossed the phone to her before turning to Peter.

“You know that’s not even remotely true, right?” Tony asked. “It’s important to me that you know this is all false. I would never harm your aunt.”

Peter nodded. He knew what Tony was saying was true, but he was all scrambled. Tony pushed himself off the couch, pulling out his own phone and dialing a number.

“Mike- we have a serious problem.” Tony barked into the phone as he headed towards the elevator. Peter watched him go until he disappeared from his sight.

“We’re going to sort this out, okay?” Pepper said as she also got up, pulling out her own phone and setting Peter’s phone down. She walked into her and Tony’s bedroom and shut the door behind her, leaving Peter all alone in the living room.

He sat in silence for a few moments holding the pillow before grabbing his phone from the table. He reached over to turn the tv on, the tv turning onto a news station. He noticed the headline scrolling along the bottom.

**Captain America, Thor and Black Widow in DC talking about the recent incidents involving The Avengers.**

“JARVIS-“ Peter called up to the ceiling.

“Yes?” The AI called out.

“Why are Steve, Thor and Natasha in DC? Is it about the attack?” Peter asked.

“I am not able to tell you about that.” JARVIS replied.

“What? Why?” Peter asked. JARVIS had very rarely denied him an answer to a question before.

“I have been instructed not to broach that subject with you.”

“Who instructed you??” Peter asked.

“Sir did.”

“First he makes you tell him when I have nightmares and now you won’t talk to me about this. How many other things has he instructed you about me?” Peter asked. He was frustrated. This was his identity and no one had said anything to him about it.

“There are 400 protocols related to you Peter.” JARVIS replied and Peter startled.

“What? Can you tell me what they are?” He asked.

“I cannot.” The AI replied.

“Of course. Where are the other Avengers?”

“Of the Avengers who are in the Tower, Mr Barton, Mr Wilson and Mr Rhodes are all downstairs in the main living area.” JARVIS replied. Peter got up, deciding he was going to and join them.

“Can you take me down to them?”

“I have been instructed by Sir to keep you up here for the time being.” JARVIS replied.

“Why?” Peter called up. There was no reason for him to be secluded to the floor.

“Sir did not say. But perhaps you would like to watch a movie?”

Peter sighed as he sat back down on the couch, grabbing the pillow to clutch between his chest.

“Play Star Wars JARVIS. The first one.” He settled himself back down as Jarvis started to play the movie.

He was done with the first three Star Wars movies and there had been no emergence of Pepper from her room, and Tony hadn’t reappeared. Peter instructed JARVIS to start the fourth movie as he lay down on the couch- his head on the pillow he had been clutching in his chest.

It was halfway through the movie when Peter felt his eyes start to grow heavy and start to close despite his best efforts. After the fifth time of jerking himself awake, he gave up and let his eyes fully close, the darkness closing in quickly.

-

He felt himself waking up ever so slightly as someone moved him. The warm, calloused hands registered as Tony. Tony lifted his head carefully and then was laying it back down onto the pillow. Peter could vaguely register that he wasn’t lying on the couch anymore, but rather on legs that he knew must have been Tony’s. He then registered that someone was lifting his feet, and then placing them in their lap rubbing his legs. He could tell by the delicate hands that it was Pepper.

He was still half asleep but with his enhanced hearing, he could hear what the two were talking about.

“JARVIS says he’s been on the couch all day.”

“That was my fault. He asked JARVIS if he could go downstairs but I made him stay up here.”

“Why?”

“He was upset about that article. I didn’t want any of the others saying something in front of him.”

“We can’t keep him up here forever.”

“I know.” Tony’s hand brushed against Peter’s forehead lightly. “That article was such bull.”

“It was. But Mike is working on it. We are no longer messing around.”

“Sometimes you terrify me.”

“What are we going to do Tony? He can’t stay trapped inside forever.”

“He’s going to have a bodyguard when he’s out. It’s the only way he’ll stay safe and protected from the press. I’m wondering if we could get Cass or Stewart on it.”

“What about when he’s Spiderman?”

“You heard him. He doesn’t want to be Spiderman anymore.”

“He might in the future though. He was upset when he said that.”

“If it comes to that, we’ll look at it then. I’m not going to encourage him to go back to Spiderman anytime soon.”

“Steve said they are having trouble in DC?”

“Yep. The senator can’t be located at all, and articles like that one are only hampering everything. Not to mention there was zero evidence at the building Steve, Thor and I were attacked at and the same with where Sam and Scott were attacked.”

Sleep was calling for Peter again, and he let himself fall back into the darkness, the discussion above him fading away.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you all enjoyed. :)
> 
> Feel free to leave comments to let me know if there is anything you liked, or any mistakes you noticed. This is completely unbeta'd so despite my best efforts, i'm sure there might be some mistakes.


	3. Chapter Three

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello all. :) 
> 
> This chapter got a little away from me here but I was having fun with it.
> 
> I am aware that Peter might seem a little OOC but grieving can cause a lot of different emotions. I've been there- a few times in fact.

_“Peter! Peter! Help me!”_

Peter jolted awake as the screaming faded away. He sighed as he shoved his face into his pillow. It was the fourth night in a row that he had had nightmares and he was exhausted and shaken and frustrated. The screaming of May was even more awful each time he heard it. 

“Sir is on his way.” JARVIS chimed out and a few moments later, Peter’s door opened, and the aforementioned man walked in. Peter didn’t move his head from the pillow he had it shoved into as Tony sat down at the side of the bed and put a hand on Peter’s back.

“Hey kid.”

“Hey. What time is it?” Peter mumbled, his voice muffled in the pillow.

“It is 5:30am.” JARVIS supplied.

Peter groaned. He knew Tony had a meeting at 8 and he had woken him up again.

“You can go back to bed. I know your meeting is in a few hours.” He told Tony, lifting his face to look at the man. He felt immediate guilt when he saw Tony’s face- the man looked as exhausted as Peter felt.

“Are you going to go back to bed?” Tony shot back.

“No.” Peter decided. It was early but he didn’t want to go to back to sleep if it meant more nightmares. “But you can.”

“Nope. If you’re up, I’m up.” Tony replied.

“I keep waking you up. I’m okay.” Peter tried protesting. He felt terrible about how tired Tony looked and he wasn’t helping with that. He knew Tony had recently suffered a concussion and the lack of sleep was certainly not helping with that recovery.

“You aren’t okay, but that’s okay. Do you want to watch a movie?” Tony asked.

“Won’t we wake up Pepper?” Peter asked sitting up. As he did so, he pushed the blankets away from him.

“She left last night for Japan.”

“Oh right.” Peter replied. He had completely forgotten about the trip that Pepper had mentioned a few nights ago. Tony had been scheduled to go too, but he had stayed back for Peter’s sake, which Peter had tried to argue.

Standing up, he pulled one of the blankets off his bed to bring out into the living room with him. Tony followed him and they both sat on the couch. Peter instinctively grabbed the cushion and held it against his chest. He saw Tony give him a look but the man didn’t say anything.

“JARVIS- play Star Wars.” Tony called to the ceiling.

As the movie started, Peter shifted down to get more comfortable. He was staring at the screen, but not really thinking about the movie playing. His mind was occupied with thinking about May and how he hadn’t been to the gravesite, which put the idea into his head. He took his gaze off of the movie, and looked at the man sitting next to him. Tony didn’t give any sign that he could see Peter looking at him until Peter looked away.

“Kid?”

“Yes?”

“That was some intense staring just then.”

“Um, I was just wondering…” Peter broke off as Tony turned his head to look at him.

“Yes?”

“Could I go see May’s grave today?”

There was silence as Tony looked at Peter searchingly. He turned his head towards the tv, seeing Padme and Anakin running through a meadow and there was a long stretch of silence before Tony spoke.

“I’m really sorry, kid. We can’t go today. Happy isn’t available and we all have to be in this meeting.” Tony replied.

Peter felt an irrational surge of anger tear through him at the refusal. The tiredness and frustration from the nightmares making the angry feeling inside of him even worse.

“I can go by myself! I’m not a baby!” The words came out more angrily than he had intended and Tony gave him a surprised look.

“Where did that come from?”

“I mean it! I’m not a child! You keep coming in when I can’t sleep like I’m a child.” Peter couldn’t stop the anger from coming out. He knew inside the anger wasn’t directed at Tony, but he was the one who was in front of him at that moment and Peter’s current target.

“Pete, you’re certainly acting like a child right now.”

“I don’t want to watch a movie with you anymore!” Peter stood up quickly, throwing the pillow he was clutching and the blanket on the floor.

“Pete, what is wrong?” Tony asked softly. He had gotten up when Peter had and was looking at him with concern on his face.

“Nothing is wrong! I want to go see May and you won’t let me! I’m going to my room!” Peter turned away from Tony and stormed back into his room. He shut the door and lay down on his bed. He half expected Tony to follow him but no one opened the door after him. He did hear Tony turn the movie off and head into his own bedroom, the door shutting behind him.

Peter reached over to pull out his phone- looking at the time and seeing 7am.

He started scrolling through his Facebook feed, only vaguely aware when Tony knocked on his door a half hour later.

“Hey Pete?”

Peter didn’t respond. He was embarrassed about his earlier display, but the anger was still festering in his gut.

“I’m going to the meeting okay? But if you need anything, let me know? We should be done in a few hours.”

Peter still didn’t respond. He picked up Tony’s sigh and then heard the man turn away from the door. Peter’s enhanced hearing could hear when Tony entered the elevator and then the elevator headed down to a lower floor.

Peter went back to playing on his phone, a few hours passing before JARVIS spoke up.

“Peter, Sir would like to let you know that the meeting is going longer than planned. He also wanted to let you know that he set up overrides for you. His phone is on silent but if you direct me to Override “PeterAssistance”, it will override anything.”

Peter nodded absently, looking at his phone. A few moments later, a thought crossed his mind.

“JARVIS?”

“Yes?”

“This override, does it only pertain to Tony’s phone?”

“It pertains to anything that you want to override. Sir wants you to be able to always access him.”

“JARVIS, Override Peter Assistance. I want to leave the Tower but you can’t tell Tony.” Peter waited a few moments for the AI to comprehend the command, hope running through his body.

“Very well Peter. I will not tell Sir if you leave the Tower. He will only find out if he asks.”

Peter let out a whoop of delight, not actually expecting the command to work. He jumped up and threw a pair of jeans and a hoodie on. He grabbed a baseball cap and put it on over his head, grabbing a pair of sunglasses before putting on a pair of converse.  Peter halted for a moment, another thought coming to mind.

“JARVIS, Override Peter Assistance- stop telling Tony when I have a nightmare.”

“Very well. I will not tell Sir unless he asks.”

Peter nodded with satisfaction as he opened his door to head to the elevator. He knew the way to the cemetery without needing to drive there- it would be a good 40 minute walk and he pulled his headphones out of the hoodie pocket.

He jumped into the elevator, directing JARVIS to take him downstairs to the garage level, making sure to avoid the 7th floor. As he descended, he pulled out his phone.

_10:00am Peter  
I’m walking to May’s grave. Delmar’s after?_

_10:02 Ned  
Should you be doing that? Are you by yourself?_

_10:03 Peter  
Yes and Yes_

_10:04 Ned  
I don’t think that’s a good idea. Did Mr Tony Stark give you the okay?_

_10:05 Peter  
No. I overrode the AI._

_10:06 Ned  
Peter, this is a really bad idea_

Peter shoved his phone back into his pocket, not bothering to text Ned back, the anger resurfacing. He thought his best friend would be supportive and not try to talk him down from going to May, seeing as how Ned knew May.

The elevator reached the garage floor and Peter walked out, heading for the door that led to the back entrance of the Tower. He didn’t want to run into any reporters and knew they were out the front.

“JARVIS- tell Tony I’m fine and watching a movie. And I don’t want to be disturbed if he asks. Override PeterAssistance.”

“Very well.”

Taking the steps out of the Tower was refreshing. It hit Peter that it was the first time stepping outside since the explosion and his stomach hurt but he kept walking. When he was a few paces away, he ducked into a side alley and started running. He didn’t have his suit or his web shooters since he gave up Spiderman but he could still run.

The running brought the trip to the cemetery down to 20 minutes, and before long- Peter found himself kneeling in front of May’s grave. She was buried next to Ben with a grey gravestone. There were multiple bunches of flowers there and notes. Peter reached over to see one of the notes

**“May Parker, we will take care of your boy”  
-Signed the New Yorkers **

The tears rose up in Peter’s throat as he let the note flutter back to the ground. He choked them down as he reached out and stroked the gravestone.

“Hi May.” He whispered. “I’m sorry I haven’t come to see you yet. It’s been a bad few weeks. I miss you. I miss you so much. I’m so sorry. This was my fault. I’m the reason both you and Ben died. You never should have taken me in- I was too much trouble. I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry. I miss you so much.”

Peter was aware that he was rambling but the tears were coming thick and strong. His chest was hurting as he tried to get a breath. He sat down hard on the ground, disturbing flowers and notes as he reached out to place his palm flat against May’s gravestone. As he did so, he looked over at Ben’s gravestone.

“I’m so sorry Ben. I couldn’t protect you and I couldn’t protect May. I ruined your lives. But I’m done being Spiderman. What’s the point being Spiderman and saving people when I couldn’t even save the two most important people in my life.”

A flash right next to Peter startled him and he almost fell over. In the next moment, a microphone was shoved in his face.

“Peter! Why are you here? Can you talk about how Tony has been holding you hostage in the Tower?”

Peter looked up through his tears and heaving chest to see a man standing there expectedly.

“What?” He whispered.

“I said, can you talk about why Tony has been holding you hostage in the Tower? Did you escape?”

“He’s not holding me hostage?” Peter’s statement came out more like a question. His chest pain was getting worse and he felt like he couldn’t get a proper breath. There was another flash and Peter did actually fall over, his face falling into the grass. He rolled himself over to the side, grasping at his chest as his breaths started coming out in pants.

“Peter. Answer the questions.” The microphone was shoved into his face again and there was another flash.

“Leave me alone.” He mumbled. His words didn’t seem to do any good as the reporter continued to hold the microphone in his face. Peter clenched his fists at his side as he tried to get a good breath in. In the next moment, there was a hand on his shoulder. He looked at the hand and then at the owner of the hand and saw the reporter still standing there.

“Don’t touch me.” He shoved the hand off his shoulder as he tried to back away, his breathing still coming out as gasps.

“If you’re afraid, we can protect you. I knew there was something strange about Stark. If you tell me what’s going on, I can take down Stark.” The reporter said and Peter looked at him. Despite barely being able to breathe and his vision starting to get spotty, he could see the man’s eyes and the look behind them. Peter noticed that it wasn’t concern, it was greed and a hunger for information.

“No. No. You’re wrong.” Peter tried saying but the words weren’t coming out. He felt like he couldn’t breathe as there was another flash somewhere near him, this flash blinding him. He clawed at his chest with his hands as he tried to get more than a gasp through to his lungs.

“Get closer.” There was a voice saying and another flash. Peter squeezed his eyes shut as this flash came from right above him.

“HEY!” An angry voice came from across the way. Peter had his eyes closed but he could feel angry footsteps walking towards him. Multiple footsteps. He gasped as he tried to draw in a deep breath, the breath catching in his chest and causing him to gasp.

“What are you doing?” The same voice asked. A hand touched Peter’s shoulder and he jolted back, his eyes remaining closed. His vision was starting to darken from not being able to get a proper breath in.

“Peter.” That voice sounded like Bruce and Peter opened his eyes. The man was kneeling a few feet away from Peter, looking at him with concern in his eyes. “You need to take a deep breathe. You’re okay.”

Peter just stared at him for a moment before Bruce put his hand on his chest. “Feel that? Deep breaths. Come on Pete.”

Peter nodded, feeling Bruce’s strong and steady heartbeat. He took a few deep breaths and his vision immediately started to clear.

“Kid, why are you here?” Sam knelt down on his other side. Peter looked around him to see Steve gesturing angrily at the reporter and the photographer who were still trying to get to Peter.

“I wanted to see May.” Peter said. The vice in his chest was lessening and he was able to get normal breaths in now. It must have felt right to Bruce as he nodded and took Peter’s hand off his chest, standing up and extending a hand down to Peter. Peter grabbed it and Bruce pulled him to his feet.

“This wasn’t the best way to do it kid.” Sam said and Peter instantly felt his face flush. Bruce put an arm around Peter and started pulling him away from the gravesite.

“Peter!” The reporter called after him.

“You leave him alone!” Sam snapped back as Steve joined them, leaving the reporter and photographer alone. Peter allowed Bruce to pull him along the path and they eventually came across a car. It was parked haphazardly, and Peter realized they must have run to him.

“I’m sorry.” He said.

“We aren’t the ones you need to apologize to.” Steve said as he climbed into the passenger side door. Bruce climbed into the drivers seat and Peter joined Sam in the back. He knew Steve meant Tony.

“Is he mad?” Peter asked.

“You hacked his AI with the codes he gave you to contact him if you needed him to get out of the Tower. He’s pretty mad.” Bruce said. Bruce put the car into drive and they headed back to the Tower. Peter couldn’t bear to look at any of the men so he stared out the car window the whole way back.

He also felt shaky and sick- he knew it was the aftermath of the anxiety attack. His heart was still racing faster than normal, and he just wanted to close his eyes and sleep for days. The feeling of the car engine below him made him even more tired, and he closed his eyes, dozing until he felt the car stop beneath him and he sat himself up.

“Pete?” Steve opened his door as they got back to the Tower.

“I don’t want to face him.” Peter confessed. He had been so mad at Tony earlier for no justifiable reason and running to May’s grave seemed like the right option. And now Peter didn’t think he could look at Tony.

“You have to kid.”

Steve grabbed Peter’s arm and gently tugged him out of the car. Peter didn’t say anything as he and the three men got into the elevator. They didn’t even have to touch any buttons and the elevator shot upwards.  Peter took a few deep breaths as they headed upwards, trying to calm down his anxiety but when the elevator opened and he saw Tony standing there, the anxiety surged up again.

“Peter.” Tony said. Steve gave Peter a little shove and he stumbled out of the elevator, aware that the doors shut behind him and the other three men disappeared.

“Do you have anything to say for yourself?” Tony said and Peter realized he was pissed.

“No.” Peter mumbled.

“No? Peter, you just hacked my AI so you could go do something I said no to!” Tony yelled and Peter felt the anxiety dissipate and the irrational anger surge up again.

“Because you treated me like a child!”

“Peter, we went over this earlier! You are a child! You can’t just sneak out!”

“May let me go out whenever I wanted!”

“I’m not May!”

“I’m well aware of that fact! You also aren’t my dad!” Peter shot out. He instantly regretted the words seeing Tony’s face. He didn’t know why he was getting so angry and Tony didn’t deserve it. He had taken Peter in and taken care of him and Peter was yelling at him.

“Well I’m all you’ve got!”

“You don’t need to remind me of that! I am well aware of that! Because everyone who cares for me ends up dead!” Peter shot back. The tears had made a resurgence and were once again running down his cheeks. His face was hot and he knew it was red.

“I’m trying to keep you safe! But I can’t do that if you decide to sneak out and not tell anyone!”

“I wanted to see May!”

“And I told you no to keep you safe! I know there was a reporter at the gravesite! None of us even knew where you were!”

“How did you find me?” Peter spat out.

“Sam guessed where you might be. And apparently they got there just in time, considering you were having an anxiety attack.”

“How do you even know that?”

“Sam texted me when they found you and what had happened.” Tony replied.

“Why can’t you just leave me alone?!” Peter shouted.

“Do you want me to leave you alone? Do you not want me to be your guardian anymore?” Tony asked and Peter faltered for a moment before answering- his anger getting the best of him.

“No. I don’t want you to be my guardian anymore!” He shouted. The look on Tony’s face almost had him changing his words, but instead he turned around and headed into his bedroom- slamming the door behind him and throwing himself down onto the bed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hate asking but if you like this, please comment and let me know? I know some of you have subscribed and bookmarked and kudos'd and all that but I am a writer who likes feedback in words as well. :)


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi all. You're getting a chapter on Thursday this week as I am away this weekend. 
> 
> Keep in mind- Civil War never happened in this, so Ross is just a horrible human being. 
> 
> Also, I know this seems like it might be a bit slow going but I have been 100% dropping subtle and not so subtle hints.

"You have a meeting in 10 minutes’ sir." JARVIS broke into Tony's concentration as he sat in the lab.

 

Tony groaned as he sat up, stretching his arms behind him. He had been in the lab for a number of hours but he hardly felt like he had gotten anything done. His mind had been solely focused on Peter and the fact that he had disobeyed Tony and gone to the cemetery by himself the day before.

 

Tony's first act when Peter got back had been to ensure that JARVIS would not let Peter out. He hadn't gotten rid of the override code in case the kid needed him, but now the upgrade meant that Peter couldn't get out of the Tower by himself, barring any emergency that no one could reach him in time.

 

He sighed as he rubbed his hands over his face. Peter's anger had been completely out of the blue and Tony felt like he was out of his depth.

 

"Hey Tony?" Rhodey's voice said as the door to the lab opened.

 

"Hey." Tony said. He turned his chair around to face the door and then stood up.

 

"You okay?" Rhodey asked and Tony sighed again as he nodded.

 

"Pete."

 

"Ah yes, I heard about the cemetery escape." Rhodey said, smiling slightly. The smile faded when he saw the look on Tony's face.

 

“You didn’t hear him after.” Tony said miserably. Rhodey took one look at Tony’s face and came to sit by him, putting an arm on Tony’s shoulder.

 

“What happened after?”

 

“Peter told me he didn’t want me as his guardian.”  Rhodey’s jaw dropped at Tony’s comment.

 

“He said that?”

 

“Yep. And then he ran into his room and I haven’t seen him since. JARVIS said he’s been in his room for the past 24 hours. God, why did I think I could be his guardian? He wants nothing to do with me.”

 

 "Tony, he didn’t mean it, I know he didn’t. That kind idolizes you but he’s trying to deal with his grief. Everything is fine." Rhodey started but Natasha’s voice interrupted him.

 

"Everything is not fine." Natasha said as she came around the corner. Rhodes and Tony stood up and exited the lab which shut behind them and Tony heard the doors lock. Natasha was holding a tablet which she passed over to Tony. Rhodey reached out for it instead, holding it out in front of Tony to see. He looked down, his heart sinking as he saw what was there.

**Spiderman: A Captive?**

**Mark Smith, Daily News**

_It appears that this writer was correct in his assumptions that Spiderman was being held against his will. I happened to be in Grove Cemetery yesterday afternoon, paying my respects to May Parker, who you might all remember, died in an explosion a few weeks back. As we were there, we happened to see May’s own nephew, our recently unmasked Spiderman, Peter Parker. We attempted to talk to Peter, but he shut himself off and wouldn’t talk to us. When we mentioned Tony Stark, Peter went into a panicked state._

_As we tried to calm him down, three of the Avengers showed up and whisked him away, before he could tell us anything. Peter was obviously very frightened to talk, and distraught when we mentioned Stark’s name. If there wasn’t evidence before now, there is certainly evidence to prove that Peter is being held against his will. He was much too frightened to talk to us, and there is very obviously a reason behind that._

_Rest assured, that this writer will not rest until Peter Parker has been taken from his captivity and will be able to talk to us so we can get the full story._

_See below for pictures of when we tried to talk to Peter and you can decide for yourself about the terror Peter is showing when we mentioned Tony Stark’s name._

_More to come on this story._

  
“I’m going to kill him!” Rhodey burst out before Tony could.

“You aren’t the only one.” Natasha replied. She looked about as furious as Tony felt.

“Who is this guy anyways?” Tony spat out.

“Some lowlife reporter. We can’t figure out why he has a grudge against us though.”

“He even posted pictures?!” Rhodey asked incredulously. The reporter had posted 5 pictures of Peter, curled up in the grass- obviously upset and then a picture of when Bruce, Sam and Steve had gotten to him and pulled him away. Tony couldn’t deny that Peter had looked terrified but he knew it wasn’t because of what the reporter was claiming.  

“Has Peter seen this?” Tony asked.

“No. Clint broke into his room and hid his phone for the time being. It may have pissed Peter off a little but he hasn’t seen anything.” Natasha replied.

“Good. I’ll talk to him later. JARVIS, tell Peter I am going to a meeting but we are going to talk later.”  Tony started walking towards the conference room that the meeting with the government representative was going to happen in. Tony saw Steve, Thor, Sam, Scott and Pepper already there.

“Clint and Bruce are staying with Peter.” Pepper explained about the absence of the spy and the scientist.

“I would really rather you all be here.” The male’s voice came from inside the room, and Tony walked into the open door with the others- Natasha and Rhodey following in behind him.

“Well that’s too bad.” Tony replied, glaring at the man.

“We do need to make sure that we leave people with Peter all the time. He has been through a very traumatic experience and we don’t want to leave him alone.” Pepper said smoothly as she walked in the door. “Mr…?”

“Jackson. Jason Jackson. I’m the assistant to Secretary Ross.”

“Why isn’t Ross here himself?” Steve asked.

“As you can imagine, Secretary. Ross is a very busy man and can’t just take time from his schedule to meet with the Avengers.” The man sneered and Tony fought the urge to punch him in the face. Judging by the others faces, he wasn’t the only one.

“Now, speaking of Mr Parker and not leaving him alone, what was the cemetery instance then?” Jackson asked.

“That was a momentary lapse and we went to him as soon as we knew.” Pepper said.

“Hmmm. Seems to be like Mr Parker tried to escape?”

“Have you been reading the Daily News there Mr. Jackson?” Rhodey asked.

“Of course I have. I read multiple news outlets everyday. But he’s not the only one. It is the view of Secretary Ross and other Secretaries that Mr. Parker is being held against his will here.”

“HE IS NOT!” Tony shouted before he could help himself.

“Tony.” Pepper said softly before turning back to Jackson.

“Peter is not being held here against his will. We brought him here because he just lost his only living family member. He knows us and we know him. We didn’t want him to end up with some strangers.”

“That’s a lovely story but not one that many people actually believe.” Jackson sneered again. “There has been suggestions that we take Peter and put him in a safe house for the near future.”

“ABSOLUTELY NOT!” Tony shouted again.

“You want a teenager who just lost his aunt to go and be in a safe house all by himself for however long you decide?” Scott asked. “Do you actually believe that’s a good idea?”

“I don’t decide that. The government decides that. We’ve also had input from other sources outside of the government.”

“I really really want to hit him.” Sam muttered under his breathe but Tony heard him.

“You can’t just take him. I have guardianship of him.” Tony said.

“Like that matters.” Jackson replied.

“Who else has given you input?” Scott asked.

“That’s inside information that you aren’t privy too.” Jackson sneered.

“Can we hold up for a minute. I thought this was a meeting to discuss what had happened? Not about taking Peter away.” Natasha spoke up. “This was agreed when we had been in DC meeting with the Senators?”

“Ah yes, about what happened. Well, you all seem to have one story and that story doesn’t match up with the evidence that we have been presented. Not to mention what the senator has said.” Jackson said.

“What has the senator said exactly?” Steve asked.

“That all of the allegations are false.”

“Where is the senator?” Thor asked.

“Not in a location that I am going to disclose to you.” Jackson sneered again. He turned towards Tony before speaking again. “I also want to let you know that we know you have been trying to find him, and I would advise you to stop doing that.”

“Mr. Jackson, are you aware that the Senator set multiple bombs in a building and collapsed that building on 4 members of the Avengers, hurting two of them? Including Peter. Surely there is evidence from a building collapse?” Pepper asked.

“That building in question was scheduled to be demolished the day you are claiming you were there. All civilians had been cleared out of the surrounding buildings and streets. It’s not surprising that you found a building that you could claim someone else took down.”

“I don’t believe that for one second.” Natasha said. “Why would someone demolish a building in a city? That’s beyond dangerous.”

“It was a carefully controlled explosion.” Jackson replied. “And I think you’ll remember that the building was on the outskirts of the city, so there wasn’t much danger to civilians.”

The meeting went on for another two hours before Jackson left, and Tony felt like they were no further forward. Pepper had managed to convince Jackson that Peter belonged with them, after a lot of shouting from Tony that they would take Peter over his dead body. Jackson refused to disclose the senator’s location- only telling the Avengers that they were under investigation and that if Peter left the Tower again, he wouldn’t be coming back.

He also threatened them with the fact that they had more people on the ground watching the Tower. Jackson also had no comment on looking into May’s death either despite Pepper and Natasha’s insistence on getting answers on that which led them all to believe information was being hidden.

Pepper walked Jackson out while the rest of the team stayed in the conference room, all seated around the table.

“That was a completely pointless meeting.” Sam muttered.

“Not entirely. We now know we can’t trust him. Or Ross.” Natasha replied.

“Could we ever trust Ross?” Steve asked.

“Who could he be talking about on the ground being on their side?” Scott asked.

“Well, we know the reporter who keeps writing about us, but who knows who else out there could be reporting to Ross.” Steve said.

“Is there a possibility Jackson was just distracting us with this meeting?” Pepper asked as she walked back in. “Distracting us from something else?”

“I need coffee.” Tony said getting up. He would rather have a stronger drink but he had been working on getting himself away from that, and now that he had Peter needing him, he had even more reason to stay away.

He headed towards the elevator and headed up to the common room area, the others following behind. Upon exiting the elevator, he stopped suddenly, Steve hitting his back before he stopped himself.

Clint was lying on the floor watching the tv, but he wasn’t what Tony was looking at. Peter was lying on Clint, his head on his back, fast asleep. He was covered in a blanket, one of his hands lying on the pillow that Tony had seen him clutching before.

“Clint.” Tony said softly and Clint turned his head towards them, making sure not to disturb the boy on his back.

“Meeting over? How’d it go?” Clint asked.

“Terrible. How long’s he been asleep?” Tony asked. He walked over to crouch down by Peter, touching his cheek softly.

“An hour or so. I haven’t been able to move so if you want to move him, be my guest.”

“Where’s Bruce?”

“He left me. Told me I could figure this out on my own. I have to pee. Can you please just move him?” Clint asked and Tony laughed. He reached down and carefully moved the pillow Peter’s hand was on, to set it to the side. He carefully put his hand behind Peter’s head and lifted it off Clint’s back, holding it up while Clint moved away. Peter didn’t wake up, his head lolling a little in Tony’s hand.

Once Clint had shifted away, Tony put the pillow back on the ground and then carefully put Peter’s head back down, keeping his hand underneath the teens head. He used one hand to adjust the blanket that had been laying on Peter so that it was tucked underneath Peter’s chin before he shifted away from the teenager. Tony glanced up to see the others all standing there, Rhodey looking at him with a grin on his face.

“So, movie?” Scott asked after a few seconds.  

Everyone nodded and spread themselves out around the room in order to be comfortable. After removing his hand from behind Peter’s head and shifting around, Tony found himself leaning against one of the couches in order to be near Peter with Rhodey and Steve on the couch above him.  Steve handed him a fresh mug of coffee before he sat down, and Tony smiled at him gratefully.

“JARVIS, play Die Hard!” Clint called out and the others all groaned.

“Again?!” Sam groaned.

“I looked after the Spiderling. I get to pick!” Clint argued.

“And we all had to sit through a very aggravating and pretty pointless meeting. I don’t see how you deserve to pick.” Sam argued.

“Are you going to tell me what happened in the meeting?” Clint asked.

“A lot of threatening us. They’ve threatened to take Peter away because they think we’re holding him hostage.” Steve replied.

“That’s bull.” Clint retorted angrily and Peter shifted slightly next to Tony. He shushed Clint who looked apologetically at Tony as Peter went still again. Die Hard started playing on the screen and while they all groaned, none of them actually tried to stop it.

It got quiet during the movie, everyone watching the screen. Tony found himself looking at the teenager whose leg his hand now rested upon over the blanket. He was still smarting from the guardian comment Peter had made, but he also knew it wasn’t what Peter was really upset about. He couldn’t fully understand how his affections had changed so much for the teenager so strongly but he knew undoubtedly that he would give his life for the teenager.

Peter shifted slightly, face creasing up and grumbled in his sleep as if sensing that Tony was thinking about him. Tony rubbed his hand on Peter’s chest softly and the teenager relaxed, his face softening up.

 He would never let anyone take this kid from him. He would do everything in his power to prevent that.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'll admit- I love sleepy Peter. Can't help it.
> 
> Hope you all enjoyed- feel free to comment to let me know how you feel and how i'm writing. :)


	5. Chapter Five

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oops, I went the route of having Peter pass out. 
> 
> This one's a bit slower but still needed, as Tony and Peter need to have a talk. This won't be the only time they have an argument though...
> 
> Disclaimer: I own nothing Marvel related, or anything to do with anything mentioned in this chapter.

_“May…..”_

Peter jolted awake as the nightmare ended. The tears pouring down his face as he shoved his face into the pillow, taking deep breaths as he tried to forget the dream. He hadn’t had a nightmare the night after he had gone to see May and Ben, but it appeared that break was over.

As he shifted around he realized that he was in his bed but the last thing he remembered was lying on the floor watching movies with Clint. He realized that someone must have carried him to bed, and that made his face flush with embarrassment. He didn’t even remember it at all and realized he must have been completely out cold.

He lay still for a few moments waiting for Tony to come in, but he soon realized that the door wasn’t opening.

“JARVIS?” He asked the AI.

“Yes Peter?”

“Did you not alert Tony to my nightmare?”

“I did not. Due to override PeterAssistance, I will not talk to him unless he asks.”

“I thought he got rid of PeterAssistance after my escape to the cemetery?”

“He did not. You are not allowed to leave the Tower by yourself for any means however.”

Peter found himself filled with relief as he processed the information that JARVIS had given him. He wouldn’t wake Tony up anymore when he had a nightmare.

“JARVIS, who carried me to bed last night?” He asked.

“Captain Rogers. He and Sir brought you in here after they all finished watching movies in the Common Room.” JARVIS replied.

“That’s not embarrassing at all.” Peter muttered to himself as he looked at the clock to see 3:30am.

“You needed the rest Peter.”

"JARVIS, where are Tony and Pepper?" He thought maybe he could go out and watch a movie.

"They are sleeping in their room Peter." That took out the watching the movie on the tv.

 

Instead he pulled out his phone that he had managed to get back from Clint after he tried to take it away, stuck his headphones in and set about watching Youtube videos- anything to keep himself distracted and awake and not thinking about the exhaustion he was feeling. He didn’t want to fall back asleep just to experience another nightmare and wake up yet again. Peter was exhausted from the lack of sleeping but even more exhausted from the emotional whiplash of having nightmares.

 

At 8:30, there was a knock at his door which startled Peter from the video he was watching. He ripped the headphones out of his ears and burrowed back under the covers, shoving the headphones and his phone underneath his pillow.

 

"JARVIS- Override PeterAssistance, do NOT tell Tony I have been awake this whole time." He whispered to the AI who affirmed his command quietly.

 

"Pete? Are you awake?" Peter didn't respond, instead he burrowed his head into the pillow, wanting Tony to think he had been asleep the whole time. He heard the door open, and Tony walked in. There was a hesitation and Peter briefly wondered why before he remembered what he had said to Tony two days ago after the cemetery. His heart clenched, and before he could stop himself, he let out an involuntary sob.

 

"Pete?" Tony asked. He came to sit down on Peter's bed, and put his hand on the boys' back. The touch caused another sob to rip out of Peter's mouth. He felt Tony grab his shoulder and try to turn him onto his back. Peter resisted, not being able to look at Tony in the face, now that he remembered very clearly what he had said.

 

He didn't want to leave Tony, he didn't want him to relinquish his guardianship but in his confused anger, he had said those exact words and screwed everything up. The emotions from the nightmare had been his main focus but now his brain wouldn’t stop replaying the words in his head.

  
Tony was still trying to get him to turn over and Peter was still fighting him. The tears were running down his face again and soaking the pillow.

 

"Why are you crying Peter? JARVIS didn't notify me of any nightmares. What's up?" Tony asked. His hand was on Peter's shoulder but he wasn't pulling at him anymore, just letting the hand rest there.  

 

Peter didn't respond, just let the tears run free.

 

"Pete, please talk to me."

 

"I'm sorry!" Peter burst out.

 

"What are you sorry about?" Tony asked but Peter knew he was aware of what Peter was referencing.

 

"What I said. I was angry- a-and upset. I d-don't want to leave. I want y-you to be my guardian. I'm s-sorry." Peter was blubbering now, choking on the words. Tony didn't say anything for a moment and Peter's heart sank. Tony was about to tell him he was leaving, that he didn’t want to take care of Peter anymore, or have him in the Tower any longer. Peter thought maybe he could go to Ned’s or MJ’s. The Leeds family knew him pretty well, he liked Ned’s parents and they liked him.

 

Peter’s head was spinning and his chest starting to hurt as he tried to get air in.

 

"Kid." Tony yanked firmly on Peter's shoulder suddenly and succeeded in getting Peter turned over onto his back so that Peter was looking up at the ceiling. Peter was still dealing with the head spinning so he didn't fight when Tony pulled him into his arms and the tears continued to roll down his face as Tony hugged him tightly.

 

"P-please don't make me go. I w-want to stay. I do. I'm sorry."

 

"Peter, stop for a minute and breathe. I'm not letting you go anywhere kid. I'm not mad. We need to talk about it but get your breath first."

 

Tony's words penetrated through Peter's dizziness and he took a few deep breaths, the tears subsiding. He pulled back from Tony’s chest and looked up at him. Tony stared back at him, no hate or anger in his face- only concern.

 

“What?” Peter asked.

 

“What do you mean what?” Tony responded.

 

"I'm staying?" Peter asked.

 

"Pete, of course you are. Nothing you could say could make me kick you out kid. But we need to talk about what brought that about? That was not you acting like the Peter Parker I know."

 

"I don't know." Peter said. And he honestly didn't. "It just came out of nowhere and I got so angry. It wasn't even you I was angry at." Peter explained. "I should have listened to you."

 

Peter lifted his arms to wipe at his eyes as he pulled away from Tony and tried to dry his face as he worked on stopping the tears rolling down his face.

 

"Well, I'm glad someone here realizes they should listen to me." Tony said jokingly and then his face turned serious again. "Look Pete, we have to talk to one another, okay? I know you're missing May and it's only been a few weeks but you can't keep things bottled in. You have to tell me when you're feeling angry or upset, okay? I’m here for you kid but I need to know these things."

 

Peter nodded and Tony hugged him again and squeezed Peter’s shoulder again before he pulled away and stood up.  

 

"There's breakfast downstairs. I'm going down now. All the crew are down there and they want to see you, god knows why. You're awful." Tony said but Peter could tell he was teasing him.

 

Tony stood up and headed towards the door before turning back around to Peter, his face serious again. "And Pete, no matter what you say or do, I will never kick you out. You won’t ever have to leave this place unless you want to in the future.”   

 

Tony left and Peter stayed lying on his bed for a few moments. The vice on his chest had lifted, upon knowing that Tony would never get rid of him. The dizziness in his head was still going strong however.

 

Peter got out of bed and almost walked directly into a wall on the way to the bathroom, he was so dizzy that the world tilted. After he tried to take a step and almost fell to the ground, he decided to forego brushing his teeth in order to get downstairs to get some food and hoping that would ease the dizziness.

 

The walk to the elevators was slow and he almost fell into the corridor wall at one point. He needed to get to Tony and the others- his heart rate was increasing with each dizzy step he took. As he tried to walk to the elevator, his left leg buckled underneath him and he stumbled into the wall, smacking his shoulder as he tried to steady himself. Peter slid down the wall and ended up in a heap on the floor, opting to stay there for a moment or two before attempting to get back to his feet again.

 

“Peter, do you need assistance?” JARVIS called out after a moment of Peter not moving. “I can alert Sir.”

 

“No.” Peter mumbled out as he worked to get his feet underneath him. He used the wall as a steady structure to get back onto his feet and JARVIS encouraged him every few seconds. He asked to get Tony again and Peter mumbled out his denial again. 

After stumbling across the rest of the floor Peter got to the elevator, JARVIS taking him down without a word which Peter was grateful for. He didn’t think he could open his mouth to properly talk, even if he tried.  

 

The doors opened and Peter stumbled out to see all the Avengers there- Clint standing closest to the elevator- and then his vision decided it was going to go. There was a rushing in his ears, and his knees started to give out. There was black stretching across his vision and he could tell the carpet was coming up to meet him again but there was no wall for him to grab this time.

 

Before he completely passed out, he was aware of numerous people yelling his name.

-

"Be careful!"

"I am Tony. He's literally lying on my legs. I don't see how I could hurt him right now."

"Bruce! What happened?"

"He passed out. I think that we all saw that."

"Thank you for that. I meant, why?"

"I don't know that. I'll have to run some tests."

"Peter?"

"Peter, we need you to wake up."

"Come on kid."

 

Peter could tell he was lying on something that definitely wasn't the carpet and he could hear the voices above him. The darkness was so welcoming and he didn't want to open his heavy eyes. Someone grabbed his wrist, wrapping fingers around it briefly before laying it back down on Peter’s chest.

 

"It's a little fast, but it's fine."

"Peter- we need you to wake up."

“Young Spiderling- you must open your eyes.”

"Come on Pete, please wake up."

"You're scaring Tony Peter."

"Oh come on- you're scared too."

"I don't get scared- I get worried. Big difference."

 

Peter realized that a hand was stroking up and down his arm. He groaned a little and leaned into it.  The hand suddenly halted and Peter let out an involuntary whine- it had felt so good.

 

“Pete? Are you waking up? Open your eyes.”

Peter wanted to follow the directions, so he tried to open his heavy eyes, squinting against the light. He groaned as the bright light hit his eyes and he closed them again quickly.

“Hey, no. Keep your eyes open.”

“Try turning the light down.”

“Pete, open your eyes. The lights turned down.”

Peter tried opening his eyes again, relieved when the light wasn’t so bright. He blinked a few times to clear his vision and get a handle on what was happening. He was lying on someone’s legs but he didn’t know whose. Tony was on his knees at Peter’s side leaning over him, staring into his face and Bruce was kneeling on the other side.

“Peter?” Tony asked and Peter mumbled in response.

“Hey, what happened? You seemed okay when I was just in your room.” Tony’s hand was on Peter’s arm and when Peter looked at the hand, Tony started rubbing it up and down Peter’s arm again in an obvious attempt to calm both Peter and himself.

“I got dizzy.” Peter replied.

“You got dizzy?”

“You’re lucky I was able to catch you in your graceful swoon there Spidey.” The person Peter was lying on said and he realized it was Clint. His face flushed with heat in his embarrassment.

“Hey, it’s fine kid. Don’t be embarrassed. We’ve all had our moments.” Tony said trying to reassure him. Peter brought his hands up to cover his face, trying to hide his eyes.  “Me more than most probably.”

“Drink this.” Bruce said a moment later, shoving something at Peter’s hands. He took them from his face to see Bruce holding out a bottle of Gatorade. Bruce grabbed one of his hands, pricking his finger with a little portable device. It beeped a moment later as Tony and Clint helped Peter sit up against Clint’s legs so he could take a drink of the soda.

“Glucose Level is very low. Pete, when was the last time you ate?” Bruce asked him and Peter racked his brains.

“Um, I don’t actually know?” Peter said. He could see Tony’s face and the man looked guilty. Peter wanted to tell him that it wasn’t his fault but with how he was currently feeling he knew if he said something that he would be very likely to keep talking and end up spilling on the not sleeping thing, and he didn’t want Tony to know that.

“Finish drinking that and then we will get some food in you.” Bruce said.

Peter emptied the bottle of Gatorade and then with the assistance of Clint and Tony, found himself sitting on the couch. The Avengers had gone to town with finding whatever food they could, and he was soon surrounding by leftover Chinese, Pizza, French Fries, Cereal, Natasha’s granola, pop-tarts and various other food items.

He didn’t feel particularly hungry but with everyone’s eyes on him, he ate some of the granola and then moved onto the Pizza, eating 4 slices before he stopped.

Bruce pricked his finger again and nodded with satisfaction. “Much more normal range. Not that we know your true normal.”

Peter nodded and looked at Tony who still looked guilty.

“I’m sorry.” He apologized and Tony shook his head.

“This one is on me. I should have been paying more attention. We’ll get you eating at normal times again, so this doesn’t happen again.”

“I’m going down to the lab to do some more looking Tony. You coming down?” Bruce asked getting up.

“I’ll come down in a while. Going to keep an eye on this menace for now.” Tony said, lightly shoving Peter so he would know he was joking.

Bruce nodded and left the room, getting into the elevator and disappearing a moment later.

“What’s he looking for?” Peter asked.

“Don’t worry about it.” Tony replied. He sat down next to Peter, grabbed some of the leftover French Fries and pulled his phone out.

“Tony?” Peter asked again. The man looked over at him before answering.

 “Don’t worry about it Pete.”

Peter frowned but kept his mouth shut, shoving more food into his mouth. He wanted to know but he also didn’t want to push Tony too far and cause another argument with the man when they had just gotten over the last one.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There won't another chapter next week as I will be out of town so I will see you all the next weekend, when we're already in April and getting closerrrrrr to Endgame!! 
> 
> That new trailer looked so awesome! And the suits, and Thor with Carol was my favorite interaction, and just so many things to take away from it but so many more questions!!!
> 
> As always, feel free to comment and let me know how you felt about this chapter and the story as a whole. :) I felt like I ended it a bit abruptly.


	6. Chapter Six

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi all! Without further adieu, here is another chapter. 
> 
> Disclaimer: I own nothing Marvel or most of the other things I mention in this story.

“I’m standing outside Avengers Tower where we still haven’t seen or heard from anyone in the Tower since the Press Conference. There has been no comment on the fact that Peter Parker was seen at his aunts’ grave just recently, and how he was taken away very quickly. As is well known through the reporting community, Stark is normally not this quiet, so it certainly seems as though something is going on at Avengers Tower. There has also been no comment on May Parker’s death, and what exactly happened to cause the woman’s death. We have reached out to the NYPD but there has been no comment from there either.”

Tony sighed as the tv played in the common room. He was sitting on the couch with Steve, Sam and Bruce. He knew the others were around but they were all elsewhere in the Tower. Peter was in his room lying down after his fainting session which Tony still felt extremely guilty about.

“We have also tried reaching out to Pepper Potts, the CEO of Stark Industries, for comment but all that we have received from her has been that there will be comments coming soon, but there was no solid date on that either.”  

As Tony watched the tv, someone ran up to the reporter who was talking and snatched the microphone out of her hand before she could do anything.

“GO AVENGERS! We’re behind you!!!” The person shouted before the reporter snatched her microphone back and started to tell the man off. The man grinned into the camera before dashing off out of camera view.

“Well, that’s one person on our side.” Sam commented.

“One on our side, many not.” Tony said.

“I think there’s more than you think. Have you even looked outside?” Bruce asked him and Tony shook his head. “There’s a lot of support out there. Go look.”

Bruce motioned towards the windows that went straight down to the entrance of the Tower. Tony had been keeping them dark for privacy but at Bruce’s suggestion, he instructed JARVIS to open them halfway and walked over to them, Sam and Steve following him over.

Tony looked down to see hoards of people standing around, holding signs and banners. He couldn’t see them all from where he was but he managed to read a few.

**WE STAND BEHIND THE AVENGERS**

_QUEENS LOVES THEIR SPIDERMAN_

MARRY ME THOR!

**PROTECT PRECIOUS PETER PARKER**

_WE VOTE YES FOR THE AVENGERS EVERY SINGLE DAY_

NEW YORK NEEDS ITS SUPERHEROES

“Why does Thor keep getting marriage proposals?” Sam said from behind Tony, sounding annoyed.

“It’s the muscles.” Tony replied, pulling away from the window and instructing JARVIS to darken the windows again before anyone had the chance to look up and see three Avengers standing there and looking down.

“I have muscles.” Sam said.

“No.” Steve replied. He walked back to the couch and sat back down on the couch he had been sitting on previously.

Tony reached down to the coffee table where he had put his coffee mug previously, going to take a sip and realizing it was empty when he brought it up to his lips. He set it back down and headed to the coffee machine.

“How many have you had?” Bruce chimed up and Tony fixed him with a stare.

“Back off.”

“That’s not an answer.” Bruce said, not intimidated by Tony’s stare in even the slightest, which slightly disappointed Tony. Bruce was becoming immune to him and Tony both liked and disliked that.

Tony poured the new coffee into his mug and wrapped his hands around it. They had been shaking slightly since he had seen Peter nosedive into the carpet. Tony saw Bruce staring at him intently so he made sure to look away and grasp the mug with more strength to prevent him from seeing the shakes.

 “Sir, Peter has gone down to the gym.” JARVIS chirped up and Tony started. “What?”

“Peter has gone down the elevator to the gym.” JARVIS repeated and Tony set the mug back down.

“Why?” Sam asked

“I believe he was feeling anxious and wanted to try to release some of the energy.” JARVIS replied.

 “He just passed out earlier, and now wants to go to the gym? He’s as bad as you.” Bruce said to Tony, as the four men all headed towards the elevator.

“I don’t go to the gym.” Tony shot back. He wasn’t happy hearing that Peter had gone to the gym as he didn’t want him to potentially pass out again and hurt himself. The four piled into the elevator and JARVIS took them down to the basement before opening the doors, and allowing them to pile out into the gym.

Tony opened the doors and saw Peter on the treadmill with headphones in. He walked towards the teenager but Sam took off ahead of him, jumping in front of Peter and scaring him.

Peter yelped when he saw Sam, and jumped into the air, moving quickly. Before Tony could do or say anything, Peter was stuck to one of the walls.

“Oh my god!” Peter yelled, breathless as Sam doubled over with laughter. “Why would you do that?!”

“Sam!” Bruce said as he approached Peter. Tony just stood in place, staring between Peter and Bruce and Steve and Sam.

Peter jumped down from the ceiling, landing in a crouch before he jumped up and Bruce grabbed his wrist.

“You were supposed to be resting kid.” Tony said.

“Oh come on. You fed me so much food. I was fine then, fine now.” Peter replied. “I have too much energy.”

“Come off the treadmill- I’ll box with you.” Steve said and Peter’s face lit up.

“Really?”

“You box with Nat. Why not me?” Steve asked. Peter’s gaze flickered over to Tony who nodded. He didn’t want Peter to get hurt but he also knew Steve wouldn’t push the teenager past his level of fitness and he also didn’t want Peter trying other potentially unhealthy methods to burn off the energy he was feeling.

Peter rushed over to grab the boxing wraps before wrapping up his hands expertly. Steve didn’t even bother wrapping his hands before facing Peter.

“Get a drink first Pete!” Tony called out from where had had moved to sit down by Bruce and Sam to watch the two fight.  Sam threw a water bottle towards the teenager who grabbed it and gulped down half of it before tossing it away and facing Steve again.  

Tony settled back, pulling out his phone to look at emails, periodically looking up to see Steve and Peter.

“Checking on him?” Sam asked after about a half hour and Tony looked up to see him also sitting against the wall, watching the two.

“Yep.” Tony said simply before looking back down at his phone. Pepper was sending him multiple emails from SI stakeholders wanting to know what was going on. She was assuring him that she was handling it but that she was keeping him informed. SI stock had taken a slight dip in the past few days as people were concerned about what was happening.

“He’s moving slower than usual.” Bruce remarked and Tony looked up again to watch Peter and Steve. He watched for a few moments and saw that Bruce was right. Steve was holding back and moving slower than he did to match the pace that Peter was moving at.

“Are you ever planning on telling him what’s going on?” Bruce asked Tony.

“Nope.”

“Do you think that’s a good idea?”

“Yep.”

“Tony,” Bruce asked more seriously and Tony looked at him. “Seriously.”

“I’m not telling him Bruce.” Tony replied.

“You’re keeping him in the dark about something that involves him.” Bruce responded. Tony put his phone away and whirled at the man.

“Do you think I should tell him what Jackson threatened? The kid just passed out because both he and I forgot to get him to eat. My mind was too focused on other things when I should be taking care of him, and he’s grieving. I can’t let that happen again. He needs to focus on the grieving and not about anything else right now. I’ll tell him when it’s all over.” Tony said.

“And do you think not telling him information about his aunt’s death is the way to go? We’re not close to figuring any of this out. How much longer do you think you can keep this quiet exactly?” Bruce asked.

“Would you stop?!” Tony shot to his feet without meaning to. Bruce looked at him surprised and Tony immediately felt guilty.  “Shit, I’m sorry Bruce.” Tony said running his hands through his hair. He was tired and stressed out, the situation taking a toll on him whether he wanted to admit it or not.

“Tony?” Peter asked slightly timidly and Tony looked over to him. The teenager was standing next to Steve and they were both looking over at Tony and Bruce. Peter was biting his lip nervously as he looked at Tony.  

“Is everything okay?” Steve asked and Tony nodded, sitting back down.

“It’s fine. I’m sorry. Get back to beating Steve’s ass.” Tony said and Peter smiled slightly before he and Steve raised their hands again.

“Bad word!” Peter scolded.

“Tony?” Bruce asked quietly, and Tony ran his hands through his hair again.

“I’m sorry Bruce.” He said and the other man shifted over to him. Bruce put a hand on Tony’s shoulder, squeezing gently before moving his hand away.

Tony went back to his phone but his hands were shaking so badly that he gave it up after a minute, putting the phone away to continue watching Peter and Steve. He noticed that Peter kept glancing over to him every so often, so he schooled his features to make sure that none of what he was feeling was showing on his face.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this one was a bit short, and a bit filler-ey. The action picks back up in the next chapter. :)
> 
> As always, comment or kudos if you liked. :) It genuinely makes my heart soar when I get a notification.


	7. Chapter Seven

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The action picks up a little bit in the next few chapters, and some of them were my favorite ones to write! 
> 
> This chapter does deal with a car accident and the repercussions from that accident, and bodily fluids. 
> 
> Disclaimer: As usual, I own no Marvel or anything else I might mention in this chapter.

“Kid, we decided to go get unhealthy food on the way back. Blame Bruce-“ Tony grinned as Bruce sputtered from the backseat. “What do you want?”

Tony was talking into his Starkphone as Steve pulled into the McDonalds drive thru. Peter started listing items and Tony called them out to Steve who rolled his window down. The three men had been to the police station to talk to their favorite police officers, Stewart and Cass, who had been trying to help them locate Senator Dean and work on figuring out who killed May. Tony had lied to Peter about where they had gone and while he felt bad, he figured it was for the best for the moment.  

“2 Large fries, 4 cheeseburgers, a vanilla shake, 10 piece nuggets and an apple pie.” Steve gave Tony a  look before reciting back to the ordering machine. “Kid hasn’t eaten much today and I refuse to have a repeat of the other morning.”

“Will you be back soon? Clint won’t accept that I’m going to always beat him in Mario Kart. He’s also asking for fries.” Peter's voice came through on the phone.

“Soon. We’ll get the food and then we’ll be back. Clint doesn’t get food. He can get his own. Do you want to work in the lab when we get back?”

Tony hadn’t extended the offer to work in the lab since he took guardianship of Peter, but Peter had been doing okay, so Tony decided to offer in the hope Peter would say yes. It was also likely his guilt talking, about not paying the kid enough attention before he had passed out.

“Okay.” Peter agreed and Tony’s heart soared.

“We’ll be back soon, okay kid?” Tony said.

“Okay.” Peter replied and the phone cut off.

Tony smiled as Steve pulled up to the window and handed him his credit card.

“Something good happen?” Bruce asked from where he was sitting behind Steve's seat.

“He agreed to work in the lab.” Tony said.

“That’s wonderful!” Bruce replied and Tony nodded. Steve handed him back his credit card and then a few moments later, started handing him bags of food.

Tony noticed Steve was holding a strawberry milkshake and he frowned, raising his finger to the soldier.

“If you spill that, you are never allowed in my car again.” Tony threatened him. “You are lucky that I am even letting you drive right now.” Steve just set his milkshake into the cupholder next to Peter’s, not even responding to Tony’s threat.

Tony set all of the food down at his feet, stealing a few fries before he pulled out his phone, intent on answering some emails on the way home. The SI stakeholders were demanding a meeting and Pepper was doing her best to keep them satiated without needing to hold that meeting, but they both knew it wouldn't last for much longer and Tony would have to attend.

Steve stopped at the light a few blocks away from the Tower, and Tony put the phone away to reach back down to grab some more fries- deliberately taking from the bag that contained most of Peter’s food. The light turned green and Steve hit the gas.

Tony was already looking back up so he saw the car heading towards them from the wrong direction, Steve didn’t. Tony yelled out, tensed up and then the car smashed into Steve’s door, bending the metal inwards as it struck.

 The force caused Tony to slide into his door, his head smashing into the metal frame as he gasped out in the pain suddenly radiating through his skull.

His vision was blurry but he could make out the car backing up and then a moment later, smashing into the car again. Tony cried out as his head smashed into the door again. He could see Steve slumped over in his seat with his head resting on the smashed door and there was no sound from the backseat. The pain shooting through his head, Tony let his injured head rest on the door as he blearily watched the car reverse again.

The car disappeared out of sight and Tony thought they were gone. He tried shifting around and calling out to Steve but there was no response from the man still slumped over in his seat, amidst the warped metal and broken glass. He tried calling out to Bruce while shifting around to see into the back of the car, but yelled in agony when he wrenched his arm and another jolt of pain went through his head.

A moment later the car was back- slamming into the car even harder than before and the force that they hit the car with caused the car to flip. Tony’s arms flung around uncontrolled and he yelped as his already wrenched arm smashed into the dashboard. McDonalds bags and food were flying around the car.

 The car ceased its flipping, coming to rest on its roof and leaving the three occupants hanging upside down, their seatbelts holding them in place. Glass was strewn across the car. Tony could feel something warm dripping down his face from his forehead. 

Steve still wasn’t moving, there was nothing from Bruce and Tony was losing his grip on his consciousness. He could hear faint screaming and then as the darkness was creeping in, someone knelt down by his door. He heard “Holy crap, it’s Tony Stark.” and then he was gone.

\--

When he came back he wasn’t sure how long he had been out for but he knew it couldn’t have been long because he was still hanging upside down, his arms dangling and hands laying on the roof of the car. He didn’t have a complete grasp on his consciousness and couldn’t pick up everything- just hearing disjointed words and sentences.

_“Bruce… calm down. Tony… hurt. calm… head…strength…Captain… Cass… calm … Bruce …. arm … head … collar.”_

Before Tony could fully grasp his consciousness, someone was beneath him. They brushed against his injured arm, and Tony groaned, the pain pushing him into full wakefulness.

“Tony?” That was Steve’s voice.

“Mmm.” Tony groaned. The pounding in his head was unbearable and he could feel the nausea swelling and his stomach rolling. He could see the flashing lights even with his eyes closed and they only made the pain worse. He groaned again.

“I know you’re hurt but I have to put a c-collar on you, and then I’m going to cut you out of the seatbelt. They’ve already pried the door off. Bruce is behind us- he’s okay but-“ Tony felt himself drifting again as the sounds and voices all faded into silence. Tony remained in the darkness until a gentle nudge and a “Tony” brought him back.

“Mmmhh.” He groaned. His muddled mind didn’t seem able to produce much more than that.

“I said I’m putting the collar on, okay?” Steve asked.

“Mhhmm.”

Steve was quick but the movement still jolted Tony’s head and he groaned again.

“I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.” Steve apologized. The pain in Tony’s head ratcheted up, and before he could do anything, the nausea was coming.  

“Ste-“ He sputtered, unable to move his head due to the collar. Steve seemed to realize what was happening and he ripped the collar off, quickly moving Tony’s head so he didn’t choke.

The pain spiked as the vomit exploded from his mouth and Tony was gone again.

\--

He surfaced again to someone removing something from his chest. There was a warm hand on his, and the faint smell of flowers- Pepper. Tony tried to get his eyes open but they didn’t seem to want to cooperate.

“Tony? Are you awake?”

“Mmhh.”

“Can you open your eyes?”

“Mmmh.” Tony tried again to force his eyes open and succeeded in a little more than a squint. He blinked a few times and turned his head slowly to see Pepper standing there- her eyes rimmed with red. 

“Hi.” Tony mumbled.

“Hi.” Pepper’s response was tearful as she clung to Tony’s hand.

“Tony.” Tony rolled his head, the movement making him dizzy, to see Cho standing there.

“Cho?” Tony was confused. He looked around to see the whiteness of the medbay. He was in the Tower. When he had been there hours before, Cho had not been there.

“I was on my way here to talk to Bruce when this happened. I got here about an hour before the accident.” She explained, interpreting Tony’s confusion correctly.

“Steve? Bruce? Are they okay?” Tony asked suddenly remembering the other two occupants of the car.

“They are. Steve has 3 broken ribs, a broken wrist and a pretty good concussion, but he’s already healing. He helped get you out.”

Tony nodded- he remembered that part.

“Bruce came out relatively unscathed to which is a miracle. He has a concussion and a hurt shoulder but he’s healing too.” Pepper explained. “

“Steve managed to talk him down from turning into Hulk while you were still stuck in the car. I don’t know how.” Cho said.

“You have a pretty serious concussion and a fractured wrist.” She looked down the bed, Tony followed her gaze and saw his wrist in a cast.

“You are not a super soldier or a Hulk, so you will not be leaving this bed anytime soon. Not to mention this is the second concussion you’ve had recently.” Pepper said softly.

“What time is it?” Tony got the feeling he had lost a significant amount of time. Pepper had been at the Compound that day and now she was at Tower.

“It’s been about 4 hours since they brought you here.” Pepper answered.

“Where is everyone? I thought they’d all be at my bedside.” Tony joked

 Pepper looked away and Tony’s heart immediately sank.

“What?” He asked, his heart rate picking up- the machine monitoring said heart rate increasing its beeping.

“Peter took off.” Pepper admitted.

“What?!” How?” Tony shot out. The pressure in his head was starting to increase again with his panic.

“It’s my fault.” Sam was walking towards them, guilt written all over his face.

“What did do you?” Tony shouted. His head gave a throb and Tony raised a hand to rub it with his wrist not in the cast. He saw Pepper notice the action and she reached out to pull his hand away, interlacing her fingers in his hand.  

“He was with me when we heard about the accident and that they were bringing you to the Tower. He was so panicked, he wanted to get outside and I brought him outside with me. You came by and you were unconscious, and he panicked. He took off before Steve and I could stop him. God Tony, I’m so sorry.” Sam explained.

“He’s been gone for hours?! What if the government found him? Is anyone looking for him? Can’t we track him?!” Tony was panicked now. He couldn’t believe that Peter was missing- again.

“Everyone has been out looking for him. He didn’t take his phone- it’s in his room. Bruce is downstairs and I’m here but everyone else is looking.” Sam explained.

Tony pushed back the covers on the bed, wrenching his hand out of Pepper's and pushed to get out of the bed. His head gave a violent throb and the nausea rose up suddenly. He bent over and threw up all over the floor next to him, barely missing Pepper who gave a cry and stepped backwards. His head pounding, he fell back against the bed, moaning as his head beat with the beat of his heart, sending pain through him.

“Lie down! You have a serious concussion.” Cho said angrily. She put her hand on Tony’s chest to prevent him from getting out of the bed any further. Tony didn’t want to argue with her- his head absolutely pounding. A moment later, he lurched up and threw up again, narrowly missing Pepper again who had moved back towards him. She took another step back and remained there as Tony continued to heave as the pain increased. The increasing pain eventually caused him to fall back towards the pillow, his vision starting to go black as the world swam around him.

He closed his eyes and started to drift again, but only just below the surface- there enough to hear everything happening above him, but not enough to respond, not that he wanted to engage with anyone with how awful he felt. His terror over Peter's disappearance not letting him pass out all the way to escape the pain. He heard Pepper move back towards the bed, and take his hand in hers again, her hand warm. 

“He’ll be okay. He just needs to rest for a while.” Cho said sounding like she was above him. 

“God, I messed up.” Sam said. “I should not have taken him outside, I should have waited until Tony came inside.”

“You couldn’t have known he’d take off.” Pepper reassured.

“He’s lost everyone in his life, and then Tony becomes his guardian and then proceeds to get into a pretty severe accident. I talk to people who have PTSD and anxiety. I should have realized Peter wouldn’t just be okay with this.” Tony could only assume that Sam was referring to him. Tony heard footsteps coming into the lab just then, the sound stopping right in front of his bed.

“Has he not woken up yet? He should be awake by now.” That was Bruce’s voice, sounding concerned 

“He did. Proceeded to panic upon the news, throw up twice and then pass out again.” Cho replied.

“You told him about Peter?” Bruce asked.

“What was I supposed to do? He asked! I couldn't exactly lie." Sam protested.

“Has there been any success in finding Pete?” Pepper asked.

“They’ve checked a number of places and no success. He’s just disappeared.”

“I really hope that doesn’t mean the government got their hands on him.” Pepper said softly. Tony’s heart lurched at that and the heart monitor beeped loudly.

“Tony?”

Tony couldn’t respond to Pepper, still hovering just below the surface and not able to even will his mouth to move but the monitor didn’t beep again.

 It grew silent after that- Pepper still holding Tony’s hand and rubbing it softly with her thumb. Tony drifted, not even sure if anyone besides Pepper was even still there. 

-

A ringtone shattered the silence and there was a flurry of movement as the group still in the Medbay scrambled to answer the phone ringing. 

“Speaker!” Pepper said.

“Steve?” Sam asked.

“We have him! He’s okay! We’re on our way back!” Steve’s voice came through the speaker and everyone gave a sigh of relief.

“Where was he?” Sam asked.

“His old apartment. His friends found him. He’s with Clint, Nat and I right now.” Steve responded. “How’s Tony?”

“He’s unconscious but he’ll be okay. He’ll be glad to hear Peter’s okay when he wakes up.” Pepper responded. She rubbed Tony’s hand and Tony's relief finally let himself go all the way- slipping into the welcoming darkness where there were no sounds or feelings or pain.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'll be honest, I very nearly left this as a cliffhanger.
> 
> Also, this was 100% not intentional in my posting times, but this will be the last chapter for a few weeks-hence why I didn't make it a total cliffhanger- as I will be in a different country for a few weeks and won't have access to the internet.
> 
> The next chapter I post will either be right before, or right after I see Endgame and I kind of want to either cry or throw-up or smile happily at the fact that Endgame is finally here? Like, just pleeeeaasssseeee leave Tony and Pepper and Rhodey aloneeeee. and bring back our loved Irondad/Spiderson relationship. I don't want anyone to die, i've accepted that people are and I saw a really legit theory the other day and ugghhhhh. 
> 
> But that most recent trailer with the tickets release? That picture... and the hug... and just so many things...
> 
> Okay, rambling.  
> Just keep in mind that I won't talk about any spoilers at all, and nothing with this story will be influenced by Endgame. I have this whole thing written up to the last chapter or two. I've written 16 chapters so far, so this might be about 17 or 18 chapters long.


	8. Chapter Eight

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi all! So glad to be back, but the place I was at for a few weeks was pretty amazing and I enjoyed it.
> 
> Also, hello to everyone new! When I got my internet back, I had so many notifications of comments and kudos and I can see more people subscribed so hello you all! Glad you are here and made it to this third part of this series. :)

“How are you possibly winning all of these rounds?” Peter grinned at Sam’s question as they were playing 21 with Clint and Natasha.

“He’s cheating. Simple answer.” Natasha replied.

“How can you cheat in 21? It’s luck.”

“He’s counting cards.” Natasha replied. Peter laughed as Sam and Clint both threw their cards down on the table in response to Natasha's comment. 

“I’m out then.” Sam claimed.

“Cheating is not cool kid.” Clint said and Natasha scoffed. “You cheat all the time.”

“That’s different. I want to play Mario Kart with Peter and handicap him. One of these days I will beat him and-“Clint was cut off by Peter’s phone ringing. He reached to grab his phone from the table next to him, seeing that it was Tony calling.

“Kid, we decided to go get unhealthy food on the way back. Blame Bruce- What do you want?”

 “Um, 2 Large fries, 4 cheeseburgers, a vanilla shake, 10 piece nuggets and an apple pie.” Peter started requesting  “Will you be back soon? Clint won’t accept that I’m going to always beat him in Mario Kart. “ Peter said. He looked over to see Clint motioning shoving food in his mouth. “He’s also asking for fries.”

“Soon. We’ll get the food and then we’ll be back. Clint doesn’t get food. He can get his own if he wants some. Do you want to work in the lab when we get back?”

Peter startled at Tony’s question. Tony hadn’t asked him to join him in the lab since he had moved in, but Peter suddenly wanted to spend time there, if it meant spending time with Tony..  “Okay.” Peter agreed.

“We’ll be back soon, okay kid?” Tony said.

“Okay.” Peter replied and hung up the phone.

 “Is he getting me fries?” Clint asked as Peter hung up the phone.

“He said you can get your own.” Peter replied grinning. 

“Ugh. No one here respects me.” Clint shouted out falling out of his chair.  “Kid, get over there, we’re playing Mario Kart. Now.” 

Clint got up from the ground and Peter followed him over to the couch. Clint threw a controller at his head, Peter catching it before it made contact and turning on the Wii. 

Peter played 4 games against Clint, beating him all 4 times. They were getting ready to play another game as Clint refused to accept defeat when the Avengers alarm suddenly blared. Peter jumped to his feet in surprise, almost throwing the controller at the wall. 

“JARVIS? What’s happening?” Natasha called up. 

“Sir, Captain Rogers and Mr. Banner have been in a car accident.” JARVIS announced and Peter felt like his world gave out beneath him. His legs gave out and he collapsed onto the couch. Sam came over to sit him, putting a hand on Peter’s shoulder, looking at him in concern. 

“Are they okay?” Clint called up to the ceiling.

“They are all currently unconscious. Emergency Services are on the scene.” 

“Where are they?” 

JARVIS recited off the intersection that the three men were at, Peter being aware enough to know it wasn’t far from the Tower.

“I heard there was an accident of the car!” Thor shouted rushing into the room followed by Scott.

“They are only a few blocks away. We’re going to go to them. We’ll bring them back here.” Natasha decided. 

The group all looked over at Peter, who was doing his best not to pass out as the world spun around him. His mind was racing at the thought that Steve, Bruce and Tony were hurt, his mind mainly focused on Tony. 

“Go. I’ll stay here with him. Keep me updated.” Sam said not looking away from Peter, and the group all rushed to the elevators. 

Peter was full on panicking now. His breathing was harsh, and short gasps were coming out of his mouth. He grasped at his chest, feeling like it was going to explode. He couldn’t stop thinking about Tony lying unconscious in a car somewhere. 

“Hey Pete. You need to take a deep breath. I’m sure they’re okay.” Sam tried to reassure him.

“They’re unconscious!” Peter shouted back, gasping for air. 

“Yes, but you know how tough they all are. They’ll be okay.” 

Peter wasn’t sure how long he and Sam sat on the couch, Peter gasping for air and crying, with Sam trying unsuccessfully to calm him down. 

“The Avengers are on their way back to the Tower. Mr Rogers and Mr Banner are conscious.” JARVIS piped up suddenly a little while later.

“See?” Sam said.

“See what? Tony isn’t conscious according to JARVIS!” Peter shot back. Sam looked at him for a moment before sighing and looking at the ceiling.

“JARVIS, which way are they coming in?” 

“They are coming in from the street. Steve decided they didn’t want to wait for an ambulance to bring Sir here so they are running here with him.”  JARVIS’ voice was calm as normal but Peter heard ‘running here with him’ and completely lost all semblance of any of the calm he had.

“Oh, m-my g-god. He’s h-hurt b-b-a-dd-ly.” He sobbed. 

“Pete, stop. You need to calm down.” Sam said. “If you calm down, we can go down and meet them outside.”

“I’m n-not all-owed out-side.” Peter hiccupped.

“Not by yourself. But you are with someone. Let’s go.” Sam stood up and extended an arm for Peter to grab. He did so, allowing the man to pull him up and yank him towards the elevator. After getting out of the elevator, hey headed out the entrance of the Tower. Peter could see the reporters and people with signs there, as they normally were, but security was keeping them away. They noticed Peter and Sam standing there and started shouting at them and jostling the security officers, but Peter paid them no mind as he waited with Sam.

It was only a few moments before Peter could see Steve, Clint, Thor and Scott heading towards them, what looked like a gurney being pushed in-between them. They reached the doors where Sam and Peter were, Clint and Scott breathless as they paused for a moment. Peter stepped around Steve to see the stretcher and his heart dropped.

Tony was lying, pale and still on the gurney. There were cuts on his cheek, including a large gash across one cheek. His arm looked swollen, and there was red on the pillows behind his head. His neck was braced by a collar and his lip was bleeding. 

He could hear Steve talking to Sam behind him.

“He was awake briefly but passed out again as I was getting him out and hasn’t woken up since. He was pretty out of it.”

“What even happened?” 

“Car ran a red light and slammed into us.”

“Accident?”

“Bruce and I don’t think so. Cass was there too, and she doesn’t think it was an accident either.” 

At that, Peter whirled around to look at the two men. His mind was whirling- it wasn’t an accident, this had been a targeted attack. This was Peter’s fault. 

“Whatever you are thinking, stop it.” Sam said, seeing the look on Peter’s face. He and Steve took a step towards Peter who took a step back as his mind raced. 

He needed to get away from here, get away from people who kept getting hurt because of him. He couldn’t let anyone else he cared about get hurt. He had failed Ben and May and now Tony, who had taken him in was hurt. 

Before he realized what he was doing, he was running. He could hear shouts behind him and someone’s footsteps trying to catch up but he was faster. He ran into an alley, crisscrossing through streets and alleys until he suddenly came to a stop. He realized he had no idea where he was or how far he had run from the Tower. 

It was the middle of the day and he couldn’t recognize any buildings. He had on shorts and a t-shirt but he hadn’t grabbed any shoes when he and Sam went outside so he was in his socks. He didn’t even have his phone, having left it in the common room. 

His chest heaving, he sank down against a wall in the alley he was in. His feet were soaking wet from the puddles he had run through and he could feel the wetness running down his face. He put his knees up to his chest, hid his face in his hands and then put his head into his knees. The sobs burst out from his chest, the tears pouring freely. 

Tony was hurt because of him. He couldn’t be around him anymore. He couldn’t let anyone else be hurt. 

Peter wasn’t sure how long he was sitting against the alley, sobbing but he could tell it must have been an hour at least by the movement of the sun. He felt drained and empty as he forced himself to stand up, his head swimming as he stumbled to the end of the alleyway and looked up, still not recognizing any buildings. 

He continued walking through alleys, cutting across streets and wandering. He passed multiple people but no one paid him any mind as he stared at the ground, stumbling every so often. 

The skies had opened up with a downpour and Peter was soaked within minutes, as he continued his walking. 

He glanced up sometime later and his heart soared. He recognized the building in front of him, it was one he had passed on his way to school every day which meant May’s apartment was nearby. He realized that he hadn’t even thought about the apartment- he knew some of the Avengers had come to get his stuff the morning after the accident but he hadn’t been back since and he realized he didn’t even know if someone else had rented the place. 

Deciding he wanted to see the apartment, he kept walking until he reached the building that he had called home for many years. He opened the door to the building, beginning to climb up the stairs to the 4 th floor, his wet and dripping clothes leaving behind a trail as he walked.  

He reached the door and then suddenly realized he didn’t even have a key. He hesitantly reached out a hand to the doorknob and the door opened, having been unlocked. Peter took a hesitant step in, taking a deep breath as he did so, trying to prepare himself. 

The apartment was empty, all the furniture having been removed. He vaguely wondered who had done that. Peter took another few steps in before his legs gave out, the adrenaline rush having run out and leaving him feeling shaky, and tired- his head pounding from his sobbing session. He reached out and shut the door behind him, before pushing himself so he was sitting up against a wall. He pulled his knees up and hid his face into them, closing his eyes. 

He hadn’t intended to fall asleep so he was surprised when he woke up to the apartment door opening and then two sets of footsteps running to him.

“Peter! Oh my god.” A hand touched his shoulder and he looked up to see Ned kneeling in front of him, MJ standing just behind him. She looked to be on the phone, but was looking at him. 

Peter glanced around to see that a significant amount of time had passed, that night had fallen and there were shadows coming through the windows into the apartment, and he was no longer soaking wet. He shivered from the cold and lack of heat in the apartment.

 Ned and MJ were both holding flashlights, one of which Ned was shining in Peter’s face. He flinched and Ned pulled it away.

“I’m so sorry! Are you okay? Mr Captain America called me and said you were missing! MJ and I have been searching for hours! She suggested we come here to see if you were here, and you are here! Why are you here? What happened?” Ned rambled.

“I can’t stay with Tony anymore.” Peter said and Ned’s face changed.

“What? Why?” 

“Everyone keeps g-getting hurt because of me. He w-was in a car accident and n-now he’s hurt and it’s m-my fault.” The tears were running down Peter’s face again and he brought his hand up to rub at his face angrily. 

“Dude- car accidents happen all the time. You can’t prevent every single one.” MJ knelt down next to him, apparently done on the phone.

“This wasn’t an accident. This w-was deliberate. They deliberately went a-after him, because of me.”

“How do you think it’s because of you?” MJ asked. 

“Because th-this whole situation ha-has been be-because of m-me.” 

“No. This is because of some assholes.” MJ said and both Peter and Ned looked at her. “What? It’s true.” 

Peter shook his head and lay it back against the wall. Ned moved around so he was sitting right next to Peter and Peter shifted his head until it was resting on Ned’s shoulder. 

“Peter? Talk to us.”

“I’m so tired.” Peter mumbled. His whole body felt tired and empty. He closed his eyes, relaxing on Ned’s shoulder. 

“You feel warm Peter.” 

“Hmmm.” Peter’s face did feel warmer than it normally did. 

MJ and Ned didn’t try talking to him again as he kept his eyes closed, drifting off.

\--

The door swung open with a bang and Peter jumped, ending up a good 10 feet away from Ned. He looked up, his heart racing to see Steve and Clint entering. 

“Oh kid. Thank god.” Clint said as he rushed over to Peter, before embracing him in a one armed hug. Peter was still half asleep and didn’t reciprocate the gesture. Clint broke away from him, holding him at arms length while he looked at him.

“Are you okay?”

“How did you know where I was?” Peter asked confused and still half asleep. He knew they couldn’t have tracked him without his phone.

“Your friends called us. We were the two closest to here. Nat is coming with a car so we can take you back to the Tower. Your friends are coming with us.” Clint explained.

“Are you okay Peter?” Steve walked over and Peter got a good look at him. His face was littered with half-healed cuts but beyond that, Steve looked completely fine and not like he had been in a severe accident.

“Tony?” Peter gasped. 

“He’s unconscious-“ Steve started but hurriedly plowed on, seeing the look on Peter’s face. “But he’ll be okay. He was awake before.”  

“Come on. Let’s get out of here.” Clint put his arm over Peter’s shoulders and guided Peter out the door and down the stairs. Peter stumbled along, his eyes still feeling heavy and the others came behind them. Clint led him out to an SUV that was parked outside, Natasha at the wheel. When they reached the car, Clint opened a door and pushed at Peter to get in. 

Peter climbed in and pulled himself all the way to the other window, resting his hot face against the cool window. Clint climbed in next to him with Ned following while MJ and Steve climbed into the front. Once everyone was settled in the car, Natasha pulled away from the building. 

“Kid?” Clint asked, and Peter could tell he was leaning towards him. Peter had closed his eyes, and didn’t want to move his warm head from the cold window even as Clint put a hand on his forehead. 

“He’s too warm.” 

“When we get back, we’ll have Bruce look at him.” 

The voices continued as Clint’s hand continued to rest on Peter’s forehead. His hand felt nice and cool against Peter’s head. 

“You did good kids. None of us had thought about the apartment.” 

“It was MJ’s idea.” 

“What happened to make him end up there? He said Mr Stark was hurt?”

“There was a car accident but everyone is going to be fine.” 

Before long, Natasha turned the car off and the rumbling vibrations under Peter ceased. He didn’t move his head from where it was resting against the window. 

“Peter? You awake?” Clint asked.

“Mhhhm.” Peter mumbled. He was awake but he also didn’t want to move. 

He heard a door open and then slam as Clint gently pulled him away from the window. Peter whined instinctively at the loss of the cool feeling on his forehead and Clint apologized softly. A moment later his door opened and he felt strong hands pulling him towards the open door. He whined again as he was jostled and his head gave a throb. Once his head cleared, he realized he was being carried in a bridal carry. Any other day he would have been embarrassed but he was too tired and achy to care that Captain America was carrying him. 

He stayed still in Steve’s arms as they headed into the elevator laying his head against Steve's chest to prevent it being jostled again. 

“Take him to Medbay. I’ll take these two to the common room. You like video games right Ned?” Natasha’s voice said and Ned responded exuberantly. His voice trailed off as Natasha led him and MJ away, Peter still able to hear him slightly with his enhanced hearing. 

Peter kept his eyes closed as Steve got out of the elevator and they headed towards what Peter assumed was the Medbay. The sterile smell hit him a few moments later, and then he was being laid on a soft bed.

“Peter?” He opened his eyes to see Pepper standing there. She looked tired and her eyes looked red but she was smiling at him. “It’s good to see you sweetie. Are you okay?”

Peter nodded slowly, his face still warm and still feeling groggy.

“He has a fever. It was raining earlier and his clothes are damp and cold.” Steve said from Peter’s side. 

“Oh sweetie.” 

“How’s Tony?” Peter asked. Now that he was on a soft bed, his eyes kept wanting to close again, but he needed to know that Tony was okay. He would have to work on getting out of the Tower again and protecting everyone at a different time- his brain was too confused for that at the present moment in time. 

“He’s still asleep but he’ll be okay. Just like you will be. He’s right there.” Pepper pointed across the medbay and Peter rolled his head slowly to see Tony lying a few beds away from him, as still and silent as Peter had seen him before but his face was cleaned and his arm bandaged, the collar from earlier missing. He looked much more like he was just sleeping. A few tears slipped down Peter’s face and Pepper ran her hand across his face. 

“Get some sleep sweetie. You’re exhausted and you have a fever.” 

Peter nodded, his eyes closing and a moment later, he was asleep.  

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So Endgame happened... I won't say anything here as my Tumblr has all of my thoughts about what happened, but as I said before- nothing that happens in Endgame will affect what is happening here. This is all written out to the last chapter and i'm not updating anything. I already like to pretend IW, CW and AOU don't exist when writing fanfiction sooo....  
> If anyone spoils anything about EG in the comments though, I will delete the comment. I know some people may not have seen the movie yet and I don't want anything to be spoiled for you. I actively spoiled the movie deliberately before i saw it because I needed to know going in, but I know not everyone wants that. 
> 
> As usual, please comment or anything to let me know how you felt about this chapter. :)


	9. Chapter Nine

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi all! I apologize, time got away from me so it's been a little bit since I updated this but here is the new chapter. It starts to get a bit action-y here.
> 
> Disclaimer: As usual, I own nothing Marvel related.

“We’re outside Avengers Tower where no one has emerged from the Tower after the events of yesterday. The last known sighting of the Avengers before yesterday was in Groves Cemetery a few days ago. At that time Peter Parker was spotted at the grave for his aunt, May Parker, before Sam Wilson, Dr Bruce Banner and Captain Rogers took the teenager away. There has been zero communication from the Avengers since the press conference that was held just under a week ago.” The news reporter was standing in front of the Tower talking into the microphone she was holding under her mouth.

“We do know that there was a car accident yesterday that involved 3 of the Avengers- Captain Rogers, Bruce Banner and Tony Stark. The Captain was seen with some of the other Avengers, pushing a stretcher that held an unconscious Tony Stark. We haven’t heard anything from The Tower since they entered yesterday and there is no update on Tony Stark’s condition.  In the meantime, we have been hearing speculation that Tony Stark is deliberately hiding Peter Parker from view because he is hiding something. Peter was last seen last night standing outside the Tower with Sam Wilson, also known as Falcon. But he disappeared quite quickly, and no one has seen him since which makes people believe he is being deliberately hidden away.  I repeat, this is just speculation and we will make sure we keep viewers informed.”

“Okay, well if anyone didn’t think that before, they will now.” Sam grumbled as he went to turn the tv off.

“They aren’t wrong. We are hiding Peter away, but for his safety, not because we are hiding anything.” Thor said.

Tony sighed from where he was lying in the medbay. He had been there all night, annoying Pepper enough in his frustration that she had left him a few hours before. Now it was the rest of the Avengers sitting around the bed, looking at the tv. His concussion was definitely still prevalent by the pounding in his head, but he was no longer throwing up when he moved, so he figured that was an improvement.

“Where’s the kid?” Clint asked, looking around.

“Did you just realize he wasn’t here?” Natasha asked him.

“I was focused on the tv.” Clint explained.

“Peter is in his room asleep. Miss Potts is sitting with him. His fever has gone down to 100 degrees. His friends are in the common room.”  JARVIS announced.

Tony thought back to the night before when he had laid eyes on Peter upon his own eyes opening. The teenager had been feverish and exhausted and when he had seen Tony awake he had burst into tears. It had taken Tony nearly half an hour before he had managed to convince Peter that he was okay and that it wasn’t Peter’s fault and the teenager had stopped crying. Peter hadn’t wanted to let him outside of his sight so Tony had let him spend the night in the bed next to him in the medbay, but had convinced him to let Sam take him back to his room earlier that morning.

“What do we know about the accident? I know you two were looking into it.” Tony asked looking at Natasha and Clint.

“We haven’t found anything leading back to the senator. Clint and I looked through hundreds of documents and data, and we still haven’t found anything leading to him at all. We did find some documents pertaining to Jackson and Ross but there’s way too much redacted that it’s pretty useless. Whoever the senator has helping him, they know how to cover their tracks.”

“What are we supposed to do here?!” Scott shot out in frustration.  “We can’t get the senator on anything that he’s done, but somehow he is managing to turn people against us!”

“What did the documents regarding Jackson and Ross say?” Steve asked Natasha.

“One was talking about the building collapse, but from what we could read, the documents show that the building was due to be demolished. The only good thing we could get from the documents were that there wasn’t an actual date despite what Jackson says.”

“So can we use that?” Sam asked.

“We can but we need more information before that.”

“Why is it taking so long?!” Tony asked loudly. “We’ve been looking for weeks now.”

“Tony, we’re trying. But the rest of these documents are heavily redacted and guarded. We are also trying to cover our own tracks. JARVIS is assisting but we don’t know how much we can do without being detected.”

“How is your head?” Steve suddenly asked looking at Tony.

“It’s fine.” Tony replied.

“Tony fine, or Bruce fine?”

“Everyone fine.”

“What about this man Mark Smith? He’s the one fueling all of the fires?” Thor asked

“We took a look into him too. Didn’t find anything. He’s been with the Daily News for 10 years. He’s written some outlandish stories before, but he’s never attacked one singular group before like this. But there’s nothing connecting him to us.” Clint replied.

“Is there a potential he’s being blackmailed?” Rhodey asked.

“He could be. But the question is why?” Natasha asked.

“JARVIS- call this Mark Smith.” Tony instructed. “Find his number.”

“What are you going to say to him exactly Tony?” Steve asked.

“I’ll figure that out as I go.” Tony replied. He wanted to see why the reporter was so against them, and especially himself and Peter.

“Calling Mark Smith Sir.” JARVIS announced and then the sound of ringing filled the Medbay.

“Mark Smith here.” The reporter answered after a few rings.

“This is Tony Stark.” Tony replied.

“Oh, Mr. Stark. I was so hoping you would call. I so wanted to talk to you.”

“Good for you. I’m sure you’re itching to let the world know that I am okay after the accident yesterday.”

“Well yes, but I also wanted to talk to you about other items.”

“Why?”

“Well, I want to hear from you why you are keeping Peter in the Tower and not letting him out?”

“Are you recording this Mr. Smith?” Rhodey spoke up

“Is that Colonel Rhodes? Well, this is my lucky day. I am very curious as to your opinion on this matter as you weren’t involved in the initial conflict.”

“I repeat, are you recording this Mr. Smith?”

“I am indeed. The public deserve to know what is happening in The Tower.”

“Well, you should know we are also recording.”

“Be my guest.”

“Why are you writing lies about us?” Steve called out.

“Captain Rogers? Well well well. And I am not writing lies- I am only writing what the public wants to know. No one has had a proper glance at Peter Parker since he was outed as Queens Spiderman. People merely want to see him so that they can shake his hand and talk to him. The longer you keep him away, the longer people start to get suspicious and question.”

“And you are more than happy to fuel along those suspicions?” Tony asked.

“I am just a lowly reporter. That is what I am meant to do- I have not told any lies, I am only writing about what the public already thinks.”

“Do you have any children Mr Smith?” Bruce asked.

“Should I just assume all the Avengers are there? And no, I do not.”

“Then you can’t possibly imagine the grief that Peter is going through right now. If you did, you would understand that Peter needs to be away from people. He saw the reporters outside the Tower a few days ago, and he reacted as one would expect to that.” Rhodey replied.

“The grief that you all caused?”

“Not us.” Thor said.

“Yes you all. I heard a rumor that Peter is going to be taken away from you? Is there truth to that rumor? I am very curious as to that.”

“I’m sure you are. I also don’t know where you heard that rumor.” Tony said.

“I have my sources. Not that I need to share those with you. Tell me the answer. You owe the public that.”

“Like you actually care about the public.” Clint scoffed.

“Answer the question!” Smith’s tone had completely changed, from cocky and arrogant to angry.

“Nope. We don’t feel like it.” Tony quipped back.

“Then you should be aware that they will come for you and I will come for you.”

“What does that mean?” Steve shouted.

“Unless you answer my questions, you should make sure you keep an eye on Peter.”

“Is that a threat?!” Thor thundered.

“It’s just a comment. Answer my question.”

“We will not! This conversation is over.” Tony said and JARVIS hung up the phone.

“I don’t know how much good that did Tony.” Steve said and Tony reared around to him. “WHAT?!”

“Calm down. I just don’t know how much good that actually did.”

“Well, we know he’s an asshole.” Sam piped up.

“And he’s definitely not being blackmailed- he was way too sure of himself for that.” Natasha said.

“He also threatened us and Peter.” Scott commented.

“JARVIS- how is Peter?” Tony called up to the ceiling. Smith had left his gut churning and he needed to know how the teenager was at that exact moment in order to calm himself down.

“He is awake now. His friends are with him and they are playing video games. Miss Potts is also up there.”

“Is Peter okay?” Tony asked up.

“He is fine.”

“Have the nightmares stopped? You haven’t mentioned any in a few days.” Steve asked. He knew about the nightmares that Peter had been having.

“JARVIS hasn’t told me about any since Peter went to the cemetery so they must have stopped.” Tony replied. He knew that JARVIS was programmed to tell him when Peter was in distress, so the fact that JARVIS hadn’t alerted him to any was a good thing.

Tony jumped as a shrill siren pierced through the Medbay. The Avengers Siren. Steve pulled his phone out as everyone stood up. Tony swung his legs around so he was sitting up on the bed, pleased when the world didn’t spin.

“Tony…” Rhodey started protesting and Tony shook his head.

“What’s the situation Steve?” Natasha asked.

“There’s giant robots attacking Queens. There’s no casualties yet.” Steve reported. He had the phone turned so everyone could see the video rising above it, showing the mentioned giant robots.

“We’re going to need everyone.” Steve said. “Tony?”

“JARVIS, do NOT let anyone in or out of this Tower aside from Pepper and her team, and Happy. Scarlet Red level security. Do NOT let anyone override this level, except for Peter’s override to contact me if he needs.” Tony was saying as he jumped out of bed. He was conflicted about leaving Peter but his friends and Pepper were with him, and he had just activated his highest level of security on the Tower, one that he had designed but only used one other time before.

“Are you sure you should leave him?” Clint asked.

“I’m calling Happy to get back here and Pepper is here.” Tony said.

“We don’t have much choice otherwise.” Steve replied.

“Sam, there’s extra wings in the jet. They aren’t as good as your normal ones, but they’ll do until we can get your old ones back. I’m going to go talk to Peter before we go.” Tony said as he hurried out the Medbay.

“Meet at the Jet in 10 minutes.” Steve commanded behind him.

Tony rushed out the Medbay and hurried in the elevator to get to his floor. He called Happy during the short trip, the man saying he was 20 minutes away and would get there as soon as he could and saying he would inform Cass and Stewart.  

Tony exited the elevator to see Peter, Pepper, MJ and Ned sitting in front of the tv. Peter and Ned were playing some videogame while MJ and Pepper both had their noses in books. They all looked up when Tony rushed in.

“Tony! We heard the alarm! Should you be on your feet?” Peter asked, throwing his controller on the floor and getting up as Ned paused the game.

“I’m fine kid. We’re all going to handle this situation. The tower is under strict security so you should be fine. We won’t be long, okay? If you need me, you can use the override and get a hold of me. Happy will be here in about 20 minutes and Cass and Stewart will be here soon too. Otherwise, just stay up here.”

“Do you have to go?” Peter asked, surprising Tony momentarily. He looked at Peter’s face more closely to see the teenager looked tired still and his eyes looked red. Tony thought that was odd as JARVIS hadn’t notified him of Peter being in distress at all, but he would have to look at that later on.

“I do.” Tony put his uninjured hand on Peter’s shoulder. “They need us all. But we’ll be back soon.”

“Are you okay to do this?” Pepper asked and Tony nodded. “Just look after him.”

“Be safe.” Peter threw his arms around Tony, the man reciprocating the gesture, being careful of his hand that was in the cast, aggravated for the bulkiness of it.  

“Always kid.” He pushed away to head back to the elevator to get up to the ramp. The look on Peter’s face was something he was going to have to address when they got back.

He headed up to the jet to see everyone else there already and Steve going over the situation.

“It shouldn’t take too long. There’s 7 robots and with all of us, we should be able to get them down quickly.” Steve said. Clint handed Tony a comm which he put in his ear.

Bruce was at the controls of the Jet and he got them in the air, and to Queens in a record amount of time. Tony climbed into the suit he kept in the jet, and flew out the back of the jet with Rhodey, Sam and Thor while the others went to find somewhere to land.

Tony headed over to the first robot he saw, firing repulsors at it to see if they would make any impact.

They bounced off of the robot, slamming into a building instead and the robot turned around to him- all 5 of its legs reaching for Tony.

“Ah crap.” He said, flying further away from the robot.

“Ironman, report.” Steve called out.

“My repulsors just bounced off the robot completely.”

“I wish I had my wings!” Sam grumbled. Tony looked to see him diving in and out of reach of one of the other robots.

“You do have wings.” Clint said.

“You know what I mean.”

“Focus.” Steve commanded.  “Do you see any weak spots yet?”

“JARVIS?” Tony asked his AI.

“Scanning.” JARVIS replied. “It looks like there might be a weak spot beneath the 3rd leg.”

“Great. Which one is the 3rd leg? Is it labeled specifically or is it a game of guess?”

“It’s the one closest to the lake.” JARVIS replied, ignoring Tony’s sarcastic remark.

“So it’s a guessing game on the other robots then?”

“Tony? Any weak spots?” Steve asked.

“The 3rd leg apparently.”

“What? How do we know which one is the 3rd leg?” Natasha asked.

“Guess. According to JARVIS.”

“That is not what I said Sir.”

“Oh, I stand corrected.”

“Tony!” Rhodey groaned.

“Sir, the leg that Colonel Rhodes is currently closest to is the correct leg.”

“Rhodey, hit that leg closest to you.” Tony directed his friend while he shot a beam at the leg JARVIS had told him for his robot he was battling.

Both robots went down, crashing to the ground with a loud boom.

“Boom!” Rhodey yelled out.

There was a flash of lightning and then another robot went down, having been struck in every single one of its legs.

“Yeah Thor!” Tony yelled out.

“Sir!” JARVIS suddenly yelled in Tony’s ear making him flinch.

“Volume there JARVIS.”

“It’s Peter.” Tony’s heart immediately started racing.

“What about Peter?”

“He’s attempting to override your phone.”

“LET HIM OVERRIDE!” Tony yelled.

“Tony? What’s going on?” Steve asked and Tony ignored him.

“Tony!” Peter’s voice said.

“Pete! What’s going on? Are you okay?”

“No! People are trying to break in. They broke one of the windows with some sort of blast device and they-“ Peter suddenly cut off.

“Peter!” Tony yelled.

“Tony! What is going on?” Bruce asked.

“Something is happening at The Tower! Peter just cut off.”

“Go! We’ll handle this!” Steve called out. “Bruce, we’re going to need you to Hulk. Thor, use more lightning.”

“I’m coming too!” Rhodey called out as Tony turned around to head back to the Tower, Rhodey flying next to him as they flew at full speed. Tony’s heart was racing- his thoughts panicked over Peter and Pepper being in the Tower as well as Happy and Peter’s friends.

“It’ll be okay Tony. We’ll get there in time. They’ll be okay.” Rhodey was trying to reassure him but Tony didn’t respond, fully focused on getting to the Tower.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please let me know how you felt about this chapter. I debated having Tony go with the group and then ultimately decided he needed to, in order for this chapter and the next chapter to work.   
> Also, I am dropping hints always about who is behind this, so keep an eye out. :) There's one you might not suspect and saying that probably made you suspect that person, if you're reading this.


	10. Chapter Ten

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whump whump whump!!!!  
> Also, writing battle scenes are hard! I have so many images in my head, and writing those down accurately is hard.
> 
> Disclaimer: I own none of Marvel

“He’ll be okay Peter.” Pepper’s voice broke into Peter’s thoughts as he stared at the elevator that Tony had just left through.

“His head though!” Peter protested, turning around to the woman sitting on the couch.

“He’s much too tough to let a concussion keep him down.” Pepper said. She patted the couch next to her and Peter moved over to sit by her.

“But that concussion was really bad. And his arm.” Pepper ruffled his hair as he sat down, sinking into the couch cushions with a sigh.

“It’s a miracle he still even has the cast on that arm. It’s Tony, Peter. He’s not going to let anything keep him down for long.” Pepper said.

“I just can’t lose him.” Peter whispered. He had had a complete melt down when he had seen Tony the night before, crying all over the man before falling back asleep next to him. Peter knew he would have been embarrassed about that normally especially since Pepper, Bruce, Doctor Cho and Steve had all seen the meltdown, but he had been just too tired and feverish at the time. He had woken up from his nap from another nightmare, JARVIS still not saying anything. His emotions had been all over the place, and he was still struggling with how to handle it.

“Hey sweetie- you won’t. Tony is a tough man.” Pepper looked at Peter’s face, before her brow creased in concern and she put her hand on his face and softly stroking his cheek. Peter involuntarily leaned into her touch.   “Are you feeling alright? You still feel slightly warm.”

“I-“ Peter started before shutting his mouth. He was so tired that he found himself wanting to tell someone but he knew Pepper would tell Tony which was exactly what he didn’t want. It was worth the exhaustion to make sure that Tony didn’t have to constantly wake up when he did. He had accepted he wouldn’t be able to leave the Tower to keep everyone safe, so if he could ensure that Tony and by extension Pepper got enough sleep, then that was what he would do. “I’m fine.”

“No one believes you, just so you know.” MJ piped up and the other three all looked at her. She nonchalantly shrugged at the looks and put her face back into the book she was reading.

Peter turned his head back towards the tv and caught the controller that Ned threw at him.

“Good?” Ned asked and Peter nodded. Pepper ruffled his hair as Peter focused back on the game.

“Has Mr Hawkeye ever beaten you at this yet?” Ned asked Peter as they started a new game of Mario Kart.

“Nope.” Peter said smiling. “And his name is Clint, Ned.”

“Nope, it’s Mr. Hawkeye.” Ned replied. “Now get ready.”

Peter focused on the screen, racing Ned around the track. Ned got in front of him and Peter threw a shell at him, zooming past him to take the lead.

“HA!” Peter saw both Pepper and MJ look at him when the laugh came out of his mouth. He was slightly surprised himself.

“Rude!” Ned yelled out as he tried to get back in first. Peter refusing to let him get around him, and crossing the line first. Ned groaned and then yelled out “Lets go again!”

“You two are ridiculous.” MJ commented.

“Hey all.” Happy said as he appeared in the common room. “Cass and Stewart are downstairs.”

“Hi Mr Hogan!” Ned greeted the man enthusiastically.

“Mr Leeds, Miss Jones.” Happy greeted before sitting himself down next to Pepper on the couch.

“Go!” Ned yelled and Peter set off around the track again. He was still exhausted but having Ned and MJ in the Tower and playing video games with his best friend had lightened Peter’s mood and he felt much lighter than he had since the explosion.

They were halfway through the game when there was a loud thud on the window and they all looked up. A figure clad in black was rappelling down the glass windows. He was quickly joined by another two figures.  As the group watched, one of them placed a charge on the window and a moment later, the glass on five windows shattered inward. It headed straight towards where the group was, Peter immediately putting himself closest to the window in front of all the others, the video game completely forgotten as he threw the controller on the floor.

“Go!” He yelled at the 4 people behind him.

“We’re not leaving you!” MJ shouted back at Peter. He turned around to see Ned and MJ both behind Happy, Pepper standing to his side. Happy was yelling into his phone, and Peter heard the names Stewart and Cass, among others.

“Get out of here!” Peter shouted again. The men had climbed into the room and were advancing on them, weapons raised. “Go!”

“Come on!” Happy pulled on MJ and Ned’s hands, pulling them towards the elevator with Pepper following behind. They had almost reached the elevator when the doors opened, and more men came swarming in.

“Back! Back!” Happy yelled. He pulled on MJ and Ned’s hands, yanking them back away from the swarming mass.

“Get in there!” Pepper yelled, pointing to Peter’s room which was closest.

Peter turned back around as one of the guys reached him. He reached out to punch the guy, feeling thankful that he had spent that time with Nat earning how to properly punch with all his strength. He normally tried to hold back and not hurt anyone, but there was no choice in the matter in this instance. His fist made a connection with the guys' face with a crunch and he crumpled beneath him as Peter turned around to another one.

“PETER!” MJ yelled behind him and Peter took a half-glance around. She was standing by the door to Peter’s room holding his webshooters. She threw them as hard as she could in his direction and Peter caught them, slipping them onto his wrists as quickly as he could, instantly feeling better with the feel of them. He turned back around to the men who were approaching him, as he heard a door slam behind him.

“JARVIS- Call Tony! Override PETERASSISTANCE.” Peter screamed out, his heart racing. As he did so, he shot out a web grenade at the man closest to him, effectively pinning him to the wall- the man yelling out in anger.

“Connected to Sir, Peter!” JARVIS called out.

“Tony!” Peter yelled.

“Pete! What’s going on? Are you okay?”

“No! People are trying to break in. They broke one of the windows with some sort of blast device and they are in- the Tower! Tony!” Peter shouted, to no response from Tony. “Tony?” There was no response.

“JARVIS?”

There was no response from the AI and Peter swore.

He released a few more web grenades, and successfully pinned a few more soldiers.

His anxiety was off the charts, his neck tingling relentlessly. A sudden jolt in his neck had him almost falling to the floor. There was a flash of wind next to him a few moments later and one of the men in front of him fell. Peter glanced a look to his side, seeing Happy standing there with his gun raised.

“Happy! What are you doing?” Peter yelled.

“I’m trained to do this kid. I’m a bodyguard.” Happy replied, shooting the gun a few more times and somehow never missing a target.

Facing off against both Peter and Happy, the soldiers started to get angry, shooting their own guns- bullets pinging all over the place. Peter was managing to dodge them all but he heard the thumps as they hit into the walls. There were feathers flying everywhere from the couches being destroyed.

Happy suddenly grunted behind Peter, who spun around to look at him. The man was clenching his shoulder with one hand but still holding up his gun with the other. “Just my shoulder kid.”

Peter nodded, and turned back around. He would worry about Happy being hurt on his watch later when he wasn't fighting to protect them all. He knew he still had a slight fever from running around in the rain and he was trying to ignore that as he fought.

 Realizing that he needed a better vantage point, he shot himself up onto the ceiling where he could continue to shoot webs. He and Happy joining forces with their webs and bullets to continue taking down the intruders.

A bullet hit the ceiling next to Peter and he automatically dropped to the ground, slipping a little as he landed before regaining his footing. Once he regained his footing, a soldier was right next to him, throwing a punch at him.

 Peter stopped the fist with his hand and went to swing his other hand when the soldier rapidly threw another punch which struck Peter in the face.

There was a sickening crunch and then pain and Peter felt the warmth running down his face. He stumbled backwards a little, his eyes watering instantly.   
  
“Kid!” Happy yelled out firing at the soldier closest to Peter who crumpled silently to the floor next to the teenager. Peter stared at him for a moment, the pain in his face all-compassing and his eyes blurry with water.

The sound of weapons firing brought him back into the fight, and with a shake of his head and a quick wipe of his eyes, he moved away from the fallen soldier.

As he did so, one of the soldiers reached out with a knife and hit Peter in the shoulder with it. He yelped at the pain of the cut and struck the soldier with his strength. His shoulder was pulsating and he could feel wet coming through his shoulder. The soldier collapsed under his punch and Peter put his hand to his shoulder, pulling it away a few moments later to see red on his hands. He took a few breaths to steady himself before getting back into the fight. 

As Peter turned to the next soldier, there was the sound of repulsors and engines and then in the next moment, Tony and Rhodes shot through the window- glass shattering and exploding everywhere. Peter covered his eyes, and heard loud cries coming from his room.

“Stop ruining my Tower!” Tony yelled out, flying straight into a couple of soldiers and bowling them over. Rhodey doing almost the same thing himself. They both landed on the ground, faceplates retracting.

“Is that all of them?” Rhodey asked and Happy nodded.

“God kid, are you okay?” Tony asked Peter. Peter took one look at Tony and then he sat- well, fell- to the ground hard, his legs folding underneath him, the exhaustion from earlier and now from the fight catching up to him. His entire body felt fatigued and he felt like he could just lay down and sleep for days, the fever feeling like it had risen.

“Pete?” Tony asked again, kneeling down to Peter’s level after getting out of the suit. Peter looked up from where he had been staring at the carpet, completely exhausted.

“I’m okay.” Peter nodded and Tony reached out to touch his face. Peter flinched when Tony brushed up against his nose and Tony retracted his hand hurriedly.

“That looks broken kid.” Peter nodded and then suddenly remembered about the other man who had been in the fight. He quickly turned his head to where Happy was. “Happy got shot!”

“I’m good kid. It's a through and through.” Happy said. Peter saw that Rhodey had also gotten rid of the suit and was kneeling next to Happy, carefully examining his shoulder.   

“Pepper?” Tony called out and Peter saw the door to his room fling open. Pepper came rushing out, running over to embrace Tony. Pepper knelt down and put her arms around both Tony and Peter, squeezing them both tightly.

“Peter!” Ned called out and a moment later both MJ and Ned were there. Peter pulled back from Tony and Pepper, reaching for his friends instead. They wrapped their arms tightly around Peter, who let out an involuntary groan when both his nose and shoulder were jostled and the pain spiked through his head.

“Sorry, sorry!” Ned apologized, voice muffled from where he had his face shoved in Peter’s neck.

“You saved me with those webshooters MJ.” Peter mumbled to the girl whose arms were tightly wrapped around him. He felt MJ nod her head.

“Couldn’t lose you. You’re too important.”

“What happened? JARVIS?” Tony called up to the ceiling. Peter watched as he and Pepper both stood off the ground, Pepper sitting on one of the less destroyed couches.

There was no response from the AI.

“He cut out when I was calling you.” Peter spoke up. He pulled himself away from Ned and MJ, pulling himself up off the floor, his legs still shaky but holding firmer than before.

“Pete, let me see your nose.” Rhodey called out and Peter walked over to him. Rhodey prodded gently at Peter’s nose, pain shooting through Peter at each touch. “It looks like it’s healing already and healing normally, you’ll be fine soon.” Rhodey eventually said and pulled away from Peter’s nose. “Just looks gruesome there kid. Let me see the shoulder.” 

The man pulled Peter’s ripped shirt away from his shoulder carefully and examined the cut there, carefully prodding around it. “It’s not too deep, just bleeding a lot.”

"How did they get in?" Tony asked.

"Through the window and then also through the elevator." Happy replied. He was holding a cloth up to his bleeding shoulder and he nodded at Peter when the teenager looked at him.

"How did they even get in?" Pepper asked. "I thought there were multiple officers downstairs. And JARVIS."

"It looks like JARVIS was disabled." MJ replied. She and Ned were still sitting on the floor next to each other where they had been hugging Peter. Peter looked at them, the gratefulness that they were okay flooding his body. As he looked around at the wreckage and the bodies, it suddenly struck Peter how much worse it could have been.

The relief hitting his body made his already weak legs shake involuntarily and buckle underneath him, and he found himself falling down onto the carpet. His nose hit the carpeted floor as he fell and a groan escaped from his mouth. He wouldn't have been able to handle it if Ned, MJ or Pepper had been hurt because he couldn’t protect them.

"Pete!" Hands were on Peter's back, and carefully turning him over. Peter didn't resist, his arms flopping to his sides as he ended up on his back. Tony was leaning over him, a hand on his uninjured shoulder and concern on his face. Peter could see Pepper standing over Tony's shoulder, looking just as worried. The fatigue and fever were hitting Peter hard, and he blinked heavily at the two of them.

"Mmm tired." He mumbled, closing his eyes. Tony shook his shoulder and Peter forced his heavy eyes open to look at him.

"Did you hit your head Pete?" Tony asked and Peter put all of his remaining energy into shaking his head, managing to move it a miniscule amount.

"No. Mmm just tired. Healing makes me tired." He muttered, allowing his eyes to close again. The carpet was so soft and he was so tired, it felt like the most comfortable cloud. Aware that Tony was still talking to him, Peter drifted away into the darkness.

-

He was jostled awake sometime later by someone putting their hands under his back and then his legs. There was something hard pressing against his legs and it took him time to register that it felt like a cast. The next moment Peter felt like he was flying and then he was against someone's chest. His head joggled as he felt the person’s chest move as they laughed and Peter's tired mind wondered why.

"You aren't flying kid. I'm just carrying you to a bed." Tony's voice said and Peter blearily realized he must have voiced his thoughts out loud. He didn't respond, just moved closer to Tony's warmth. The man laughed again. Peter didn't open his eyes, choosing to sink back down to the darkness as Tony carried him. He was vaguely aware that there were more voices and that Tony was talking to someone as he walked, but Peter was too exhausted to open his heavy eyes to try to figure out who it was.

He was close to sleep again when he felt Tony suddenly stopped moving. There were more muffled voices above Peter's head and then Tony was loosening his arms and laying Peter down. Peter sank down into the soft mattress gratefully as Tony's hands disappeared. A moment later, he felt hands under his head, re-positioning his head until he was lying on what felt like a big fluffy cloud. He sighed happily.

There was a blast of cold air and he shivered, the air quickly being replaced by something thick and warm being tucked around him and he snuggled into it as the darkness approached. A hand came to rest on top of Peter's head and then a soothing voice started talking. Peter couldn't tell what the person was saying but it pushed him further into the darkness until it enveloped him whole.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello to everyone who is newly subscribed to this story, or who bookmarked it. :) The number keeps growing and as a writer, that is honestly the biggest compliment in the world!


	11. Chapter Eleven

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What's this? I'm updating on a random Tuesday?   
> There's no reason other than you all of you who read this are wonderful and I appreciate you all. :) This is definitely one of the longer chapters of this story. I had fun with the Ross confrontation, and had to cut it back even.

Tony’s mind wandered as he lay top of the covers on the bed next to the sleeping teenager. It was early morning and Peter hadn’t so much as stirred since Tony had laid him on the bed in Steve’s spare bedroom the day before.  He knew Peter had been tired and still getting over the adrenaline/running for hours in the rain induced fever and that healing took it out of him, but he hadn’t thought the kid was this exhausted.

Tony heard the door opening and turned his head to see Bruce coming in. He hadn’t seen the man since the day before when he had helped him clean up the teenagers face from the blood due to the broken nose Peter had suffered. When they had been wiping away the blood, there had been such a miniscule response from Peter that even Bruce stopped to check his pulse multiple times.

“Is he still asleep?” Bruce said quietly as he came in. Tony nodded and Bruce’s face creased in concern. He walked over to Peter and laid a hand on Peter’s forehead.

“Fever is gone.” He commented before sitting himself in the chair nearest to the bed. “He’s not normally this exhausted after a fight.”

“No he’s not.” Tony agreed. “But despite the one session with those punching bags, he hasn’t really been training this last month or so. And he’s still grieving. It’s all taking a toll. I also don’t think he’s sleeping very much.”

That thought had come to Tony a few hours ago. He knew JARVIS was programmed to alert him if Peter was having nightmares, and Tony concluded that Peter was deliberately not sleeping much, if his current level of exhaustion was any clue. He knew Peter didn’t want to keep waking him up, but Tony had no intention of removing that instruction. He had been alone when grieving his parent’s deaths and he didn’t want Peter to experience the same.

“Someone should talk to him about that.” Bruce commented and Tony nodded.

“I do intend to. I don’t want to wake him up when he’s clearly getting well-needed rest.”

He turned his head from Bruce back to look at the teenager. Peter was curled up in the comforter, having yanked it up to his chin sometime in the night. He was lying on his side, his head on the pillow and face turned towards Tony, his broken nose completely healed. He looked more relaxed than Tony had seen him in a long time. Tony reached out his hand to carefully touch Peter’s cheek with the hand that wasn’t still covered in the bulky, annoying cast. He was surprised when the teenager mumbled something under his breath and leaned into Tony’s hand before stilling again.

“What did he say?” Bruce asked and Tony shrugged.

“Nothing that could be understood.”

 The door opened again and this time it was Steve walking in.

“He’s still asleep?” Steve asked, surprise in his question and Tony nodded.

“He is.”

“We need to have a team meeting.” Steve said.

“Right now?” Tony asked. He didn’t want to leave Peter alone.

“Yes.” Steve replied. “We didn’t debrief from the mission yesterday and we haven’t discussed properly what happened here. We could have the meeting in here but we might wake up Peter.”

“And I don’t want him involved in this at all.” Tony said.

“Tony, he’s already involved. They attacked here, for him, last night.” Bruce said.

“I don’t want him _anymore_ involved. You both see how exhausted he is. He doesn’t need to deal with anything else right now.” Tony shifted away from Peter to get off the bed, removing his hand from Peter’s cheek. The teenager made a little snuffling noise at the loss of contact, but buried his head into the pillow and silenced quickly. Tony carefully climbed off the mattress as to not wake the boy, and followed Steve and Bruce out of the room. He took one last glance at the comforter-wrapped Peter before carefully closing the door.

“JARVIS, inform me when he wakes up.” Tony commanded to the ceiling.

Tony followed Steve and Bruce down the hallway to the living room of Steve’s apartment. He and Peter would be staying in the spare bedroom until their floor could get cleaned up- Pepper had moved to Natasha’s spare room for the time being.

Upon reaching the living room, Tony saw that everyone was there, including Pepper and Happy.

“The kids get home alright?” He asked Happy, who had been tasked with taking MJ and Ned home. The two had spent the rest of the day and the night before in Clint’s apartment, before Happy took them home.

“We have extra security for them both.” Happy said nodding.

“Mission debrief. We’ll keep it quick.” Steve commanded. Tony went to sit next to Pepper who was on the loveseat. He squeezed in with her until they were all tangled up but neither wanting to move.

“7 robots- escaped from one of the labs nearby.” Steve started.

“Why were they building giant 5 legged robots exactly?” Clint piped up.

“Research purposes was the explanation I got when I spoke to the scientist in charge yesterday.” Rhodey piped up.

“How did they even fit them in the building?” Clint wondered.

“Clint.” Natasha said. “Not the time.”

“Do we know if it was linked to the attack here?” Pepper asked.

“We don’t think so.  There’s only a few scientists actually working there at the moment, and none of them seemed to know who Senator Dean was. I was inclined to believe them all.” Rhodey answered.

“How did they know we were all gone from here then?” Bruce wondered.

“Anyone down below saw the jet leave.” Steve answered.

“Right, but how would they known Peter wasn’t with us that quickly? And they did assemble and attack awfully fast.” Bruce replied.

“We’ll get back to that.” Steve commented, ever the leader. “So 7 robots, 2 taken down by Rhodey and Tony. 2 taken down by Thor with his lightning. 1 taken down by Hulk, 1 taken down by Sam and Scott and 1 taken down by Clint, Natasha and myself.”

“Anything happening to the scientists at fault?” Scott asked.

“They have to pay for all the damage caused. It wasn’t too much, but there was one building which was pretty damaged.” Steve said and Tony laughed to himself.

“That might have been my fault. My repulsers bounced off initially.”

“Either way, we don’t have to pay for anything.” Steve said. “Now, back to the attack.”

“That was the quickest mission debrief ever!” Clint exclaimed and Steve shot him a look.

“Back to Bruce’s question, how could they have known that Peter wasn’t with us that quickly, and assemble that quickly? And who are they even?” Sam asked.

“Any of the surviving ones are refusing to talk. Cass and Stewart took them to the police station, but there’s been multiple interrogations from multiple officers and they have nothing.” Natasha commented. “So we have no idea who they are or who sent them.”

“Where were those two during the attack?” Thor asked.

“Taken down. Cass says she doesn’t remember anything, but Stewart says he saw them coming round the back and before he could do anything, one of them took him down. The next thing he remembers was waking up on the ground.” Happy replied.

“I don’t understand how they overrode JARVIS and came up the elevator.” Pepper said.

“It wasn’t very advanced. It only took me a few minutes to get JARVIS back up.” Tony stated. After he had gotten Peter settled in bed, he had run diagnostics on JARVIS from his phone and it had indeed only taken about 5 minutes to break the code and bring the AI back up.

“Someone has to have been helping them somehow?” Natasha suggested.

“But who? It’s only us who are here who JARVIS knows.” Scott asked.

“And Cass and Stewart.” Pepper reminded him.

“Right, but they’ve been with you guys since the beginning right? They wouldn’t do something like this?” Scott asked.

“No way.” Tony replied. Outside of that floor, the only people he really trusted were the two police officers and he knew there was no way they would be involved.

“We start looking at employees.” Pepper suggested. “I know we sent them all to work at home for the time being, but one of them could have figured out access?”

“Happy?” Tony asked.

“That’s a lot of people!” Happy protested, but turned silent at the looks on Pepper and Tony’s faces.

“Have you thought about going to the Compound?” Steve asked Tony who nodded.

“I have, but I thought that might be taken the wrong way and Jackson would be back telling us he was taking Peter. And they know where the Compound is.” Tony replied. He had debated taking off to the Compound during the night with Pepper, Tony and Happy and then decided against that.

“It’s also a lot more public here if they try something than it is upstate.” Pepper pointed out and Steve nodded in agreement.

“SIR!” JARVIS chimed up.

“Yes?” Tony asked.

“Senator Ross is requesting access.”

“Are you kidding me right now?!” Pepper burst out.

“What does he want JARVIS?” Tony asked the ceiling while looking at a frustrated looking Pepper. He stroked her arm gently, feeling how tense she was.

“He says and I quote “Just open the damn door.”

“Nope, not until he explains why he’s here.” Tony answered. There was a pause and everyone looked at the ceiling before JARVIS replied.

“He wants to discuss Peter. He is requesting all Avengers in the meeting.”

“Let him in.” Tony replied. “Take him to Conference room 7. We’ll meet him there. No where else JARVIS.”

“We aren’t seriously going to talk to this asshole right now are we?” Sam asked.

“We don’t have a choice here Sam. If we don’t let him in, that’ll cause trouble.” Steve said.

“What about Pete?” Clint asked head inclined to where Peter was apparently still asleep.

“I’ll stay up here.” Happy said.

Tony nodded at the man, hesitant to leave Peter but knowing that Peter would be fine with Happy. They would only be a few floors down and could be up very quickly if they were needed and if Ross got on his nerves, he would just leave.

Happy got himself more settled on the couches as Tony pulled himself up to head to the elevator with the others and they all piled themselves into the elevator to head down 5 floors to the conference room Tony had sent Ross to.

-

“Ross” Tony greeted as the group all entered the room to see the secretary sitting at the head of the table. The man didn’t even stand when the Avengers and Pepper entered the room, Rhodey closed the door harder than was necessary when he came in last.

“Secretary Ross, Stark.” Ross replied.

“Eh. Ross works.” Tony shrugged.

“Why are you here?” Steve asked defensively.

“Thought you might want to read that.” Ross threw the newspaper he was holding at Tony who picked it up to see the first page, Sam leaning over his shoulder.

“Oh, this asshole again.” Tony heard Sam mutter.

**It’s Time for the Avengers to Go!**

Mark Smith- Daily News Reporter

_Anyone who is reading this article is aware of what transpired at the Avengers Tower yesterday when there was an attack. Although we don’t know the exact details of what happened, this writer has exclusive details._

_The first being that the attackers were going for Peter Parker, who has been kept in the Tower in the month since his aunt was mysteriously killed. I know I’ve mentioned it before and I am not the only one to think so, but this event clearly shows that Peter is not safe with The Avengers and should be under government protection in a safe house where no one will be able to get to him. This event also shows that The Avengers are clearly not able to protect anyone and maybe, it’s time for them to disband? They’ve caused numerous destruction over the past few years in numerous countries and yet, have seen no repercussions from that?_

_Not to mention that Avengers Tower is right in the middle of the city, and is clearly a problem for the everyday citizens of New York who have to deal with that._

_The second part of the details that this writer has exclusively was that Peter was left alone in the Tower when it was attacked. For a group that claims to be protecting him, why would they be leaving him alone? This seems-_

Tony threw down the newspaper, unable to read more. His gut was churning with anger but he had to work hard not to show the feeling on his face. He didn’t want to give Ross the satisfaction, aware that the man had been staring at him as he read the article.

“That’s a load of shit.” Sam said looking up from the newspaper. Steve made a grabbing motion at Tony and he tossed the paper over to him.

“On the contrary, a lot of people believe the Avengers have caused too much destruction.” Ross replied calmly.

“That is not what I meant and you know it.” Sam snapped.

“Is this why you came? Just to show us this article?” Tony asked Ross, who shook his head.

“I know you spoke to my assistant-“ Ross started, and Sam interrupted him.

“He was an ass.”

“Sam!” Steve spoke up and Sam shut his mouth, looking pissed.

“Second warning there Wilson.” Ross said.

“What was the first one?” Sam asked quickly.

“Sam!” Steve said again.

“I would keep your mouth shut Wilson.” Ross said.

“Don’t threaten the team!” Thor shouted out.

“I’ll threaten who I like thank you Thor.” Ross replied. “You spoke to my assistant who informed you that there were people watching you.”

“Yes.” Pepper snapped.

“We know Peter took off from the Tower the night of that car accident.” Ross replied.

“So?” Scott asked.

“Well, we warned you what would happen.”

“You are NOT taking Peter.” Tony shouted. “We went through this with your assistant.”

“Secretary, Peter took off because Tony got hurt and he was upset.” Steve said.

“And we understand you were at fault for that Wilson?” Ross asked.

“Was that strike number one?” Sam inquired. Tony tried to hide his smirk as Ross just glared at Sam.

“We warned you that we would take Peter if he escaped the Tower again.”

“You can shove that.” Scott piped up. Tony took a glance at the man and saw an anger he had never seen on the carefree man’s face before.

“You are all making that become much more of an option right now.” Ross replied.

“I’m sorry,” Tony stood up. “Did you just come here to gloat that you could take Peter away, and show us this article?”

“There are other items to discuss actually.” Ross replied.

“Oh, like the fact that the car accident wasn’t an accident?” Clint chimed up. The man had been leaning against the wall next to Rhodey but moved up to glare at Ross.

“Where did you come up with that idea?” Ross asked.

“Oh maybe the fact that the car hit us multiple times?” Tony commented.

“You were all too badly hurt to remember that.” Ross replied and Tony smiled for real this time.

“Actually no. I was awake until after the car flipped.”

“You had a concussion Stark. Nothing you say could possibly stand true.” Ross replied.

“There were eye witnesses, weren’t there?” Rhodey asked.

“They all gave their statements. None of them collaborate with your story. They all say that the car hit you once and then drove from the scene.” Ross said smugly.

“And exactly how much did you pay or blackmail them with?” Pepper asked.

“I am insulted by that accusation Miss Potts.”

“Oh shut up.” Sam shot out.

“Alright, Peter goes with me now.” Ross got up from the table.

“Back off!” Tony stood in front of the door.

“Clint!” Steve said and Tony looked to see the man standing there, with his bow in hand.

“Like you don’t want to!” Clint shot back.

“Threatening me Mr Barton? Not smart.” Ross said.

“You’re not taking the kid.”

“I could put you in jail.”

“Go ahead. Leave the kid alone.” Clint spat out.

“Enough.” Steve said standing in front of Clint. “No one is going to jail and you are not going to tell anyone about this.” Steve turned to Ross.

“You don’t get to decide that Captain.”

“JARVIS?” Tony called up, knowing that the AI knew what he was asking.

“I disabled Secretary Ross’ recording device when he came in, and have been recording this conversation since it began.” JARVIS replied and Tony watched Ross’ face turn into anger.

“What was that you were saying Ross?” He asked.

“What are you getting from this Mr Secretary?” Pepper asked before Ross could respond.

“What?” Ross questioned.

“Why are you so eager to take Peter away? And reading articles from this man?” Pepper motioned towards the paper that Steve had thrown on the table.

“I don’t need to tell you my business.” Ross replied.

“Are you working with Senator Dean?” Natasha asked, speaking for the first time since the meeting had started.

“Again, I don’t need to tell you my business.”

“So you are.” Natasha confirmed.

“This meeting is over.” Ross said getting up from the table.

“Oh, it didn’t go the way you wanted?” Clint asked tauntingly, stepping out from behind Steve.

“It isn’t over. This is far from over. Peter won’t be with you for much longer.”

“Good luck with that.” Sam said.

“JARVIS, let the trash out.” Tony said, stepping away from the door and ushering Ross through.

“You’ll pay for that Stark.” Ross said as he walked through the door to head towards the elevator.

“Look forward to it.” Tony replied.

The group watched as Ross walked out and waited while the elevator moved.

“He’s gone Sir.” JARVIS called out a few moments later and they all moved.

“Do NOT let him back in under any circumstances JARVIS.” Tony called up to the ceiling.

“You need to calm down.” Steve said to Clint and Sam who both glared at him.

“Are you serious? Don’t you want to punch him in the face?” Clint asked incredulously.

“Yes but we can’t. We need to protect Peter and antagonizing people is not going to help that.” Steve replied calmly.

“I need to go see Peter.” Tony said. He rubbed his hand across his forehead, feeling exhausted.

“He is awake Sir.” JARVIS said.

“I told you to inform me when he woke up!”

“You were occupied. I didn’t think mentioning Peter would be a good idea at the moment that he woke up.” JARVIS replied.

“That’s fair.” Tony conceded.

“I want to see the kid too.” Rhodey said.  “Lets all go upstairs. Steve can cook us food.”

“I like that idea.” Sam replied. Steve gave them both a look but didn’t argue.

Tony walked through the open door to head to the elevator, Pepper catching up to him and looping her arm in his. She sighed as he took his other arm to rub her arm.

“How do we protect him?” She whispered and Tony shook his head. “I don’t know.”

He genuinely didn’t know what to do. For all his snark with the senator, Tony was worried. He had numerous resources at his disposal for protection and Peter had still managed to get hurt twice while in the Compound and the Tower. He had no idea what resources Ross had and the searching the others had been doing had brought up zero information. He hated having to keep Peter cooped up but he didn’t know any other way to even try to protect the kid.

The elevator opened and they walked in, the others following behind them. The doors closed and JARVIS took them back up to Steve’s floor.

“Hey.” Happy said as they all exited the elevator. Tony looked for the teenager and saw him lying on the floor playing with his phone, hand resting on a couch cushion. He looked up when they all came in, turning the phone screen off and sitting up.

“Hi.” Peter greeted.

“Hey kid. How are you feeling?” Tony asked as he and Pepper headed straight for the teenager. Steve, Rhodey and Bruce all heading into the kitchen area while the others followed Tony and Pepper into the living area.

Tony sat down on the couch behind the teenager while Pepper pulled away and reached out to touch the teenager’s forehead to double check the fever was gone.

“Better.” Peter replied smiling at Pepper. “Where were you all? Happy wouldn’t tell me.”

“In a meeting. Steve’s cooking food.” Tony replied. He stared at the kid for a few moments before pulling out his phone. He knew Peter was looking at him inquisitively at his short answer and he didn’t want the kid to continue asking about the meeting. Another thing he was feeling guilty about- keeping this all from Peter.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you all enjoyed. :) Feel free to comment if you did. It seriously gives me warm fuzzies when I get the email from A03!


	12. Chapter Twelve

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this chapter is quite a bit shorter but I knew what I wanted to happen, and I didn't want to drag it out, just for the sake of dragging it out.

CHAPTER TWELVE:

“You’re forgetting about us Peter. You’re forgetting about me. It’s only been a month since you killed me and you’re already over me.”

“I’m not! I’m not May! I promise.”

“You’re so happy in your little Compound with your Tony Stark and all your Avengers. You got all you wanted there didn’t you Peter?”

“No! No!”

“You got all that you could have possibly wanted. It only took me, your uncle and your parents to die for you to get that.”

“No, no. I didn’t get all I wanted! I didn’t! I w-want yo- you back!”

“No you don’t. Losing me was delightful for you.”

“No, n-no it wasn’t!”

Peter was sobbing as the conversation he was having with May continued.

“Don’t worry Peter. It’s not like anyone else knows that it was the best thing for you. Tony Stark was all too happy to have you in his life, so I’m sure he doesn’t think it was your fault or that you were happy about it. He was happy enough for both of you.”

“No M-May, Tony didn’t w-want you to die. No-no one did.”

“It’s okay Peter. You’ll probably end up killing Tony too.”

“What? No! I w-won’t l-let him die.”

“You can’t prevent that Peter. Everyone around you dies. I’m sure MJ and Ned will feel the repercussions of that soon.”

“M-May.”

“They almost died because of you Peter. That could happen again.”

“I k-know. I c-can’t lose t-them.”

Peter jerked as he woke up, the tears pouring down his face, his chest heaving. He rubbed his aching eyes tiredly as he lay there. His blankets were tangled around his legs, but he felt sweaty and sticky. He rubbed the back of his neck before he reached down to untangle the blankets, ripping his legs out of them. He was lying in Steve’s spare room’s bed but Tony was nowhere to be found.

“JARVIS. What time is it?”

“5:30 in the morning. Are you sure you don’t need any assistance? You seem to be in distress. I can get Sir for you. He is with Miss Potts.”

“No JARVIS. I don’t want to wake him up.” Peter said quickly.

“May I ask who you were thinking about?”

“My aunt May.” Peter replied. “I miss her a lot.”

“I am sorry to hear that Peter. If I may offer a suggestion.”

“Yes?”

“If you go down a level, there is a room with your aunts’ belongings in there.”

“What?!”Peter shot up into a sitting position.

“If you go down a level, there is a room with your aunts’ belongings in there.”

“No, I heard you. I just didn’t know that her belongings were here.”

“Captain Rogers and Mr Lang put the belongings in there when they cleaned out your apartment.”

Peter could feel the tears flowing down his face again. He hadn’t thought about May’s belongings since he had been to the apartment after the car accident. He felt terrible for not thinking more about it, realizing that some of what the nightmare May was saying was true.

“Peter, are you sure you don’t want Sir?”

“Very sure. He needs to sleep, and if I wake him up- I’ll wake up Pepper too. They need their sleep.”

Peter got himself off the bed, throwing the blankets aside as he headed for the bathroom attached to the spare room. He wanted to take a shower to get the tears off of his face, and rid himself of the sweat and sticky feeling on his body. He turned on the shower, standing underneath the spray, letting it run over his face and clearing away the tears. His eyes hurt and he felt exhausted. After a few moments, he sank down to sit on the ground of the shower, the water rushing over him.

He wondered to himself if the nightmares would ever end. It had been a month since May had been gone, and he couldn’t stop crying about it at least once a day. Trying to keep that inside and away from Tony and the other Avengers was exhausting.

Peter remained in the shower until he felt the water starting to cool, and then he pulled himself out, getting dressed and leaving his room. It was still early, only just hitting 6:00, so he walked quietly across the living room, not wanting to wake up Steve. He really didn’t want the soldier to catch him awake and alert Tony.  

As he headed to the elevator, he grabbed a banana from the table, opening it and throwing away the skin in the garbage. JARVIS took him down a level and he found himself in front of the door JARVIS had told him about. He hesitated for a moment, his heart starting to beat in his chest as he thought about what was behind the door.

Taking a deep breath, Peter opened the door to a dark room. He reached over and turned the light on, illuminating numerous boxes sitting there. There was a thin layer of dust coating the boxes as they hadn’t been disturbed in over a month.

Peter forced himself to move over to the closest box, kneeling next to it and forcing himself to take deep breaths. He could feel his chest tightening as he opened the flaps to the box and reached inside. The first thing he came across was a picture of Peter, May and Ben. It was from a few years before on Peter’s birthday when they had gone out for ice cream. Peter had stuffed himself full of ice cream until he was almost sick. May had asked the waitress to take the picture, and May had loved it so much she had the picture printed and framed. Peter knew she had put it away when Ben had died, but had taken it out again not long before she had died. Peter traced the faces of his aunt and uncle with his finger over the glass, the tears starting to well up again as his chest started heaving.

Chest heaving, Peter put the picture to the side. When his phone had been smashed, he had lost a lot of the pictures on his phone, so he was even more emotional to see the picture. He pulled out the next item in the box, this was one of May’s sweaters.

He pulled it fully out and the faint smell of flowers filled the air. The sweater still smelled faintly like May as he brought it closer to his nose to take a full inhale. The smell filled Peter’s nose and it was too overwhelming and he dropped the sweater.

His hand crept up to his chest as he tried to take a deep breath, it getting caught in his throat. He coughed as he tried to take another deep breath but it came out as a gasp. He continued gasping, his hand grasping at his chest. The tears were running freely down his face again, his nose getting clogged up and restricting his breathe even more.

“Peter, you seem to be in distress. Shall I call sir?” JARVIS asked. Peter could hardly hear him through the panic and the gasping. His chest was burning, his heart was racing and he couldn’t get breaths in. The world was starting to spin.

“Peter! I need you to tell me to call Sir.”

Peter nodded.

“I need verbal confirmation.”

“C-Call H-Him.” Peter gasped out and JARVIS affirmed that he was calling Tony.

Peter’s chest continued to heave as he tried to get air into his lungs. He gave up on sitting and collapsed onto the floor, lying on his back as he stared at the ceiling. The tears that were running down his face started pooling in his ears but he didn’t bother trying to deal with them. The world was still spinning and blackness was starting to encroach on him.

He felt more than heard quick footsteps heading his way and the next moment someone knelt down next to him.

“Kid?” Tony’s blurry face appeared in Peter’s eyeline. He looked tired but concern was etched in his features. Peter tried to respond but could only gasp.

“Kid- you have to breathe.” Tony pulled him up off the ground and positioned himself so Peter was leaning against his chest. Peter’s head flopped down to his heaving chest, suddenly feeling too heavy to move.

“Peter!” Tony’s voice was urgent now. “You have to breathe else you are going to pass out. Listen to my heartbeat- take a breath.” Tony pulled Peter’s head up gently so his ear was resting against Tony’s chest.

Peter forced himself to focus on Tony’s heartbeat. He tried to take a deep breath, forcing it down into his heaving chest. Once he had the first shaky breath in, he was able to take another one, and then another as his head started to clear.

“Good job Pete. Keep taking deep breaths.” Tony’s deep voice said above Peter. The tears had started to calm down, although Peter still couldn’t breathe through his nose. He took a few more deep breaths through his mouth and his chest stopped heaving. Tony removed his hand from Peter’s forehead and Peter shifted his head so it was more comfortable.

“Kid, you back with me?” Tony asked and Peter nodded. He brought his hand up to swipe across his nose and pulled away from Tony. The older man letting him go. Peter set his hand on the sweater and immediately pushed himself away.

“Pete?” Tony asked. He knelt down so he was on Peter’s level.

“I’m fine.” Peter said instinctively and Tony’s face softened.

“Kid. You aren’t. How did you even find this?”

“JARVIS told me.” Peter said.

“JARVIS?!” Tony barked up at the ceiling.

“Sir, Peter was showing signs of distress and confirmed it was about his aunt. I thought this might be a help.” JARVIS replied.

“I don’t think it did J.” Tony said. Peter nodded as Tony looked at him. He reached out and put a hand under Peter’s chin, forcing the teenager to look at him. “You look exhausted Pete.”

“I’m tired.” Peter admitted and Tony nodded. He pulled Peter into his arms, wrapping his arms around the teenager. Peter relaxed against the mans’ chest, putting his own arms around Tony. They stayed there for a moment before Tony suddenly stiffened.

“JARVIS- if Peter was in distress before now, why didn’t you inform me?”

“Peter used his override and instructed me not to inform you.” JARVIS replied and Peter’s heart sank.

“YOU DID WHAT?!”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I can't believe we're getting through this... I believe there will be 5 more chapters after this.
> 
> Buttt... I don't know yet if I am ending this series with this story. I might continue to write more in this AU that I have written about the after effects, but we'll see. :) I'm really bad at letting things go that I am enjoying, and I have been enjoying writing this, and seeing the positive response from you all!


	13. Chapter Thirteen

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ack, i'm so sorry! I thought I had updated this this weekend and just realized that I never did!
> 
> Peter might seem kind of OOC in this character but he's still grieving, and grieving takes many forms. Of course he doesn't believe what he says to Tony here, not one bit.
> 
> The usual disclaimer of me owning nothing.

YOU DID WHAT?!” Tony yanked his arms away from Peter, backing up until he was looking the teenager in the face. Peter turned his head away, and Tony reached out and grabbed him under the chin, forcing Peter to look at him. The teenagers face was still splotchy and wet with tears but he looked at Tony defiantly. 

“Peter, you did what?!” Tony asked again. 

“I-I” Peter stuttered. 

“You decided that you were going to hack my own AI in order to keep me out?!” Tony was mad and he could tell Peter knew it. He had never imagined Peter using the overrides for nefarious purposes after the initial getting out of the Tower and going to the cemetery. 

“What else did you override?!”

“Just this. Just-Just this.” Peter got out. He was still trying to yank his head away, but Tony was holding firm. 

“Are you lying to me?” 

“I’m not! I swear. I just did this.” Peter replied.

“Why?! I thought you were over the nightmares and now I find out that you are definitely not over them and JARVIS hasn’t been telling me.” 

“You were so tired. The nightmares after Ben lasted for months. I couldn’t do that to you.”  Peter said. He had stopped trying to yank his head away, looking at Tony. Tony could see just how exhausted and worn down the teenager looked. 

“Pete, you’ve been totally exhausted. I thought you weren’t sleeping deliberately. I had planned to talk to you about that.  Why wouldn’t you let me help?” Tony said softly.

“Because I kept wake-waking you and Pep-Pepper up. You didn’t ask for me to come into your l-lives like this.”  The tears were running down Peter’s face again.

“Pete, I wouldn’t have done this if I didn’t want to.” Tony pulled the teenager back into his arms, wrapping his arms around him. 

“JARVIS- remove override PeterAssistance. You will inform me when Peter has a nightmare.” Tony instructed and Peter stiffened below him.

“Yes Sir.” JARVIS replied. 

“No Tony.”

“Yes Tony.” 

“No!” Peter protested, louder this time. He pulled himself out of Tony’s arms.

“Pete, I can’t just sit by and do nothing when you’re suffering so much.” 

“This is my burden to bear. Not yours, not anyone elses. Mine. My fault- my burden.” Peter replied and Tony sighed.

“Are we back on that again? Never was your fault, never will be your fault Peter.” Tony said. The teenager suddenly pulled himself onto his feet, jerking himself fully away from Tony.

“It is. It will always be my fault. I can’t protect those that I love.”

“Peter, stop it. It wasn’t your fault. Don’t do this to yourself.” Tony stood up so that he was level with the teenager. He went to put his hand on his shoulder and Peter shrugged it off, crossing his arms. 

“Why can’t you just leave me alone?!” Peter burst out and Tony looked at him.

“What?” 

“I said, why can’t you just leave me alone? Why do you have to be so in my business, all of the time?”

“I’m your guardian Peter. It’s kind of my job.” Tony replied.

“No, no it isn’t. You’re so controlling!” Peter yelled. 

“I’m trying to keep you safe Peter.” 

“No, you’re being so controlling! God, maybe the papers are right!” Peter screamed at Tony who stared back at him, completely taken aback.

“I’m sorry, do you think that I had something to do with your aunt being killed?”

“I don’t know! It all seems awfully convenient.”

“Peter, I can’t believe you would even say that to me.” Tony could barely get the words out, so shocked and hurt at what Peter had just said to him. 

“Why? Because it’s true?!” Peter challenged. The teenagers face was completely white, with red splotches on his cheeks, the previous tears gone but wet streaks remained on his pale face. Peter was clenching his fists at his sides. 

“Because you are even entertaining the idea. I thought you knew me a little better than that.” Tony was trying to keep his voice even, but it trembled as he spoke to the teenager. 

“So did I!” Peter screamed back. 

“Peter, listen to me. I knew May quite well, Pepper was friends with May, you loved May, we all care for you- why would I take away someone who means so much to you and cause you so much pain?” Tony moved forward instinctively to Peter and the teenager took a step backwards from him. 

Tony’s heart was aching. He didn’t recognize the teenager standing in front of him. Logically he knew this was the grief and exhaustion talking- Peter had officially reached the angry stage and was attacking whatever he could with that anger, but it didn’t make it hurt any less. 

“Why are you keeping me inside then? Why won’t you let me go outside?” Peter shouted back.

“Do you want to go outside? Be confronted by all of those journalists and cameras and questions? Do you remember what happened last time?”

“That’s a perfect example! You wouldn’t let me go see May’s grave because you were being controlling!” 

Tony sighed. 

“I am trying to protect you. There is a lot more going on here than you know Pete. If I could let you out, I would. I would go to May’s grave with you in a heartbeat.” 

“Stop keeping me in the dark! I want to know things!” 

“You need time to grieve Peter.”

“I’m perfectly okay.”

“You aren’t kid. You’re not okay.” 

“I am! I am! You are just trying to convince me I’m not so you can keep controlling me!” 

“We’re going in circles here Peter. I am not trying to control you, I am trying to keep you safe. I would never hurt your aunt. I miss her too kid.” Tony said, and instantly regretted the last statement as Peter’s eyes narrowed.

“No you don’t. Stop lying to me and stop telling me what to do and pretending you care about me. You’re just as bad as your dad! I can’t even look at you!”  The teenager whirled around to leave the room and bumped straight into Steve and Clint who were walking in. They took in the sight of an angry Peter and a tired-looking Tony. 

“What is going on? We heard shouting.” Steve asked. 

“Tony is being controlling.” Peter shouted. 

“About what?” Steve asked. 

“Everything!” Peter again started to leave the room- Clint’s hand on his arm stopping him.

“Kid-“Clint started and Peter wrenched his arm away. 

“Leave me alone!” Tony watched as Peter stormed out of the room. The elevator whirled a moment later.

“JARVIS?” Tony asked.

“Peter is headed up to his room.” The AI replied.

“Jarvis, do NOT let Peter out of our level or Steve’s level of the Tower.” Tony called to the ceiling and JARVIS affirmed the command.  Tony sank back onto the ground amongst the boxes, putting his head in his hands. He had not expected that conversation to go that way. 

“What just happened?” Clint asked. 

“Peter has reached the angry stage.” Tony replied. His voice was muffled as he didn’t remove his head from his hands.

“But what were you yelling about? Why does he think you’re being controlling?” 

“Kid used his override to get JARVIS to stop telling me about the nightmares. I removed that override and Peter got angry.” Tony replied.  “Told me he thought maybe the papers were right, and I did have something to do with May’s death. Also told me I am just like Howard. ”

Tony had yet to move his head from his hands. He genuinely felt like crying, something he hadn’t done in many years. He took a few deep breaths to try to control the tears he felt forming in his eyes, pressing his palms hard into his eyes. 

Steve moved over to Tony’s side, putting a hand on the man’s shoulder as he knelt down. 

“He didn’t mean that.” Steve said. 

“I know he didn’t.”  Tears dealt with, Tony lifted his head finally to look at Steve. Clint had moved to stand by one of the boxes, looking at the picture frame that had been lying on the floor. 

“There’s no way he believed what he just said. Kid respects the hell out of you.” Clint said.

“I just don’t know what to do.” Tony said honestly. “I feel way out of my depth here. He’s fine and then he’s not. I know grief, I’ve experienced my fair share of grief, but this, this feels like so much more. I don’t remember all of the immediate weeks after my parents died.” 

“Colonel Rhodes had to keep an eye on you 24/7.” JARVIS chimed in and Tony glared at the ceiling.

“I did not ask you for your opinion JARVIS.” 

“You made a statement that I knew the answer to.” The AI replied and Tony chose not to respond. He put his head back in his hands, feeling Steve put his hand back on his shoulder and pulling his head back out to look at the soldier. 

“Give him some space for now then talk to him.”  Steve advised.

“I thought that worked last time. He got angry, we talked about it and it seemed okay, but then he just went off.” Tony said. Tony was exhausted, feeling it down to his bones. 

“I think you should tell him all that’s going on. He clearly knows something is happening and no one is telling him anything.” Steve suggested. “He might be feeling kind of useless?”

“When did you get so good with advice?” Tony asked and Steve looked taken aback.

“Sam.” Steve replied after a moment. He was appraising Tony’s face, and the man looked away. 

“What is this?” Clint asked and Tony looked at him. He was holding the sweater that Peter had bene clutching when Tony had walked into the room. 

“That’s May’s.” Steve replied. “Everything in here was what we picked up at the apartment when we went to clear it out.”  Steve turned back to Tony. “Do you want Sam to talk to Peter?”

“I appreciate the offer but no.” Tony shook his head as he went to stand up. “It should be me.” 

“Sir, a woman is attempting to enter the Tower.” JARVIS chimed in.

“How did she get through Security?” Clint asked.

“She snuck around the back.” JARVIS replied.

“You didn’t stop her beforehand?” 

“I can’t stop someone from sneaking around.” JARVIS responded.

“Well, who is she?” Tony asked. 

“She says she is the assistant of Mark Smith.” 

“What?!” Tony hurried out of the room with Steve and Clint hot on his heels. They rushed into the elevator, heading down to the first level before heading towards the back of the Tower. There was a young brunette woman standing by the locked doors, looking nervous and holding a handbag close to her chest. 

“Let her in.” Tony instructed. The door swung open and Steve reached out to grab the woman, tugging her gently into the building before the door shut behind her again. 

“Who are you?” Tony asked the nervous looking woman.

“I’m Megan Jones. I’m Mark Smith’s assistant.” The woman responded.

“So we heard, what do you want?” Clint asked gruffly. 

“I have information on my boss.” Megan replied.

“What do you want from us in return?” Steve asked and the girl looked surprised.

“I don’t want anything. I just don’t like what my boss is doing. Spiderman saved my life a few months back, I’m not about to let my boss talk about him and the Avengers like he is.” Megan replied. She reached into her bag and pulled out a folder handing it over to Clint. He immediately opened it up and Tony looked over his shoulder. 

“What are these?” Clint asked.

“They are documents on my boss’ transactions. You’ll notice the name Ross on there a lot. There’s also some other documents regarding a Senator Dean? I don’t really know what those are, but I thought they might be important?” 

“How did you get these?” Steve asked.

“I’m privy to a lot of information as Mark’s assistant.” Megan replied. She had started to lose some of the nervousness she had shown in the beginning.

“Will you be in trouble for this?” Clint asked.

“I don’t think Mark knows. I take documents home all the time, and these are all copies I printed on my own printer at home.” Megan replied.

“This is really good stuff Miss Jones.” Steve said appreciatively. Tony grunted from where he was looking at the documents that Clint had spread out on the table in the foyer.

“Do you think you would be able to get more? Safely?” Tony asked and Megan nodded.  “Okay, this is my cellphone number. Do not abuse this, or sell it to anyone. If you find anything, call me immediately- no matter what time it is.” Tony gave the woman his number and watched as she programmed it into her phone. 

“If you think you’re ever in danger, come here.” Steve said and Tony nodded. “JARVIS will let you in.” 

“JARVIS, open the doors and let Miss Jones out.” Tony said and the door opened again. Megan turned around to leave, tucking her cellphone back into her bag. 

“Miss Jones,” Tony said and she turned around as she headed out the door. “Thank you.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh heyyyy new character... who may or may not be a big help coming up...


	14. Chapter Fourteen

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Since I didn't update last weekend, it's two chapters this week!
> 
> Also, a fun fact about this- I wrote all of this story in one weekend right before I posted the first chapter, which was a while ago, so every time I go to a new chapter, it's kind of like reading it all over again! I have to go back through it as I haven't written the final chapter, and since I have like 4 other WiPs right now, making sure I don't confuse any of them gets a bit difficult sometimes. Like one of them is after IW and the beginning of EG, so they are not all friends and I almost wrote that they were at one point.
> 
> Anyways, without further adieu- here is this chapter. The normal disclaimer of owning nothing.

Peter sighed as he gathered all of his belongings together, into his backpack. It was mid-afternoon and he hadn’t heard anything from Tony after he had blown up at him. He knew that was expected- he had said some truly awful things to Tony in his anger. The man had told him he would never kick him out but that was before Peter had told him he was like his father, and accused him of having something to do with May’s death.

After he had left the room with May’s belongings in it, he had laid on his bed and cried for a solid 2 hours before deciding to pack up his room and make it easier for when Tony inevitably kicked him out. Peter thought maybe he could go to Ned’s house for a few days before figuring out what to do. He wouldn’t take his Spiderman costume with him, he had long accepted that he shouldn’t be that ever again.

The floor that he lived on had been partially cleaned up, the bodies all gone from the attack and the destroyed furniture removed, but the common room was totally empty. Peter’s room was virtually untouched, aside from where Pepper, Ned and MJ had thrown things to protect themselves, and some broken glass.

The webshooters had certainly helped when the Tower had been attacked, but considering it was Spiderman’s enemies that had attacked and caused this whole mess, Spiderman needed to go away and never appear again.

“JARVIS?” He called out to the AI.

“Peter?”

“Does Mr Stark want me to leave the Tower?”

“He has not said as such. He commanded me not to let you leave this floor though.”

“Is he going to keep me here until he kicks me out?”

“I do not believe he wants to kick you out Peter.”

“I’m sure he does.” Peter replied. “I said awful things to him.”

“He does not want to kick you out Peter.”

“You heard what I said JARVIS. Wouldn’t you want to kick me out?” Peter sat on his bed, fiddling with the hem of his t-shirt as he talked to the AI. His stomach was in knots and despite his best efforts, his eyes kept filling with tears which he blinked away hurriedly each time.

“You did not mean what you said Peter.” JARVIS replied.

“But I still said it all!” Peter protested.

“You were upset. I should not have directed you to your aunt’s belongings.”

“No.” Peter said. This was not the AI’s fault. This was all Peter. “That was not your fault. I’m glad you did.” Peter truthfully was. Deep down inside beyond all the hurt and pain, he was glad that May’s belongings hadn’t been thrown away, and he had pictures.

“You are?”

“I am.” Peter said nodding forcefully. “And maybe some day Tony will let me back into the Tower and I’ll be able to go through it all.”

JARVIS was silent and Peter sat for a few more moments, playing with his t-shirt, his stomach clenching and anxiety rising. His hands started to shake and his eyes filled up with tears again.

He stood up, rushing over to pull his window open to get some fresh air into the room, the window not budging.

“JARVIS, please. I need the window open.”

“I cannot open it Peter- I can’t let you leave the Tower.” JARVIs replied.

“I just need some air!” Peter gasped out. The tears spilled over and rolled down his cheeks as Peter continued to try to open the window.

“I must inform Sir that you are trying to escape Peter.” JARVIS said.

“I’m not trying to escape! I just need some air!” Peter gasped out. The window didn’t budge and Peter gave up, collapsing to the floor, covering his eyes with his hands.

“Sir is coming Peter.” JARVIS announced and Peter’s stomach clenched. This was it. Tony was already going to kick him out, and now he thought that Peter had tried to escape, disobeying Tony yet again.

Peter could feel the vibrations of footsteps coming towards him and then heard the door open. He didn’t lift his head, choosing to stay hidden away from Tony’s face, unsure of what he would see.

“Peter?” That was a female voice and Peter looked up, surprised. Pepper was kneeling in front of him, concern etched into her face. She reached forward and wrapped her arms around Peter, pulling him into her chest. He didn’t relax into her hold as he normally would, and she started rubbing his back gently.

“What’s wrong sweetie?” Pepper asked, and Peter broke. The tears started coming strongly, and he didn’t attempt to hold them back. Pepper’s hand began rubbing his back more quickly, but just as gently.  

“Oh sweet boy.” Pepper’s soft voice said and Peter continued to sob. Pepper held him for a few moments before Peter pulled away, trying to wipe his face as he sat back from her.

“When does Tony want me out by?” Peter asked, looking at the floor and not at Pepper.

“What?” Pepper asked, sounding surprised.

“Tony. When is he kicking me out?” Peter asked again, still staring at the floor. Pepper reached out and grabbed his chin gently, forcing him to look at her. Peter could see confusion in her eyes.

“Tony isn’t kicking you out. Why would you even think that?”

“Because of what I said to him! I was awful Pepper. Why would he want me to stay with him after that?” Peter asked.

Pepper looked at him for a few moments before Peter turned his head away from her again, forcing her to let go of his chin.

“Peter.” Pepper eventually said, sounding serious. Peter refused to turn his head to look at her. “Peter, look at me.”

Peter still refused to turn his head to look at her. She reached out again to Peter’s chin, a stronger grip than before so Peter was forced to look her in the face.

“I won’t deny that you said some pretty hurtful things sweetie, but none of us believe you meant any of it.” Pepper said. “Tony doesn’t think you did either.”

“I told him he was just like his dad! And that he could have had something to do with May’s death!”

“I know you did. Tony told me what you said. He was hurt but he doesn’t blame you for your emotions. You’re still going through grieving Peter. It’s only been just over a month sweetie. And there’s been no progress on finding who killed May. You’re also exhausted.” Pepper looked directly at Peter as she said this, no anger or malice in her voice, only softness and concern.

“He’s not going to kick me out?” Peter asked. His stomach had unclenched and hope was rising in his chest.

“Of course not. Never will. Peter, Tony loves you. I think Tony told you this, but the only way you’d be leaving this Tower in the future is if you want to.” Pepper replied.

“Where is Tony?” Peter asked.

“He’s in his lab. He asked me to come and talk to you. JARVIS told us you were trying to escape.” Pepper responded.

“I wasn’t. I just wanted some air.” Peter responded before fully comprehending Pepper’s answer, and his heart sank. “He didn’t want to talk to me?”

“I think he wasn’t sure if you wanted to talk to him. You were pretty angry earlier and he thought he should give you some space. Do you want to talk to him?” Pepper asked and Peter nodded.

“JARVIS?”

“Sir is on his way.” JARVIS confirmed.

Peter and Pepper sat together on the floor waiting for Tony to reach Peter’s room, Pepper occasionally wiping away the tears that streaked down Peter’s cheeks.

Peter heard the elevator open and then a moment later, Tony was at his door.

“Pete?” Tony asked a little cautiously and Peter’s heart sunk again, aware that he had made the man cautious.

“Hi.” Peter said weakly. Pepper stood up behind him.

“I’m going to go be somewhere else.” She said as she left the room. Peter looked back down at the carpet, playing with the hem on his shirt, trying to push down the anxiety that had risen again. He didn’t hear Tony move to sit down next to him until the man was reaching over and putting his hand over Peter’s shaking fingers.

“Kid.”

Peter looked up into Tony’s face. The man looked exhausted to Peter and he felt awful. The tears welled up in Peter’s eyes again. Before he could say anything, Tony had pulled him into a hug. Unlike with Pepper, Peter found himself hugging back putting strength into the hug. Tony flinched ever so slightly and Peter hurriedly released, cursing himself for hurting the man. He went to stand up and Tony’s hand on his knee stopped him.

“I forget how strong you are.” Tony said and the dam broke. The tears exploded out of Peter’s eyes and his chest felt like it had exploded. He buried his arms into his knees, gulping and gasping as the tears streamed down.

“Whoa, okay kid.” Tony’s voice said. He pulled Peter’s arms away and forced the teenager to sit up. Peter didn’t fight him and before he knew it, he was sitting up and leaning against his wall. Tony had both of Peter’s hands clasped in one of his, and he was rubbing them between his. Peter looked down at his hands and then back up at Tony.

“Hi.” Tony said softly. “Are you with me?” Peter nodded and Tony let go of Peter’s hands, situating himself so he was sitting across from Peter.

“You wanted to talk to me?” Tony asked Peter. Peter nodded and opened his mouth but nothing came out. He closed his mouth again.

“Take your time.” Tony said and Peter burst out with the first thought that came into his mind.

“Why are you being so nice? I don’t deserve it.”

“Of course you do Pete.” Tony replied.

“No I don’t. I hurt you. I deserve to be kicked out.” Peter replied. Tony reached over and put a hand on Peter’s shoulders.

“You absolutely do not deserve that.”

“But I do. I said so many mean things. You are not like your dad. I know you didn’t hurt May.” Peter said, the words spilling out faster than he could think. “I’m just so frustrated, and tired, and anxious and sad and angry.”

“Keep going. Talk to me.” Tony encouraged.

“And I know something is going on but no one will tell me. I miss May, I’m having nightmares and I’m tired, and people keep attacking and I can’t protect everyone.” Peter’s mouth was moving before he could stop it, all his fears and thoughts spilling out to the man sitting in front of him.  “I’m just so tired. Tired of being tired, tired of losing everyone I love, tired of not being able to protect anyone, tired of being kept in the dark, tired of being angry, tired of it all.”  

Tony reached forward and pulled Peter into a hug again, Peter instinctively wrapping his arms around the man, but holding back his strength.

“Kid, listen okay? I won’t deny that you said some pretty hurtful things, but I know you didn’t mean them. I’ve said some pretty mean things in the past that I didn’t mean but I was lashing out. I know you were feeling left out of things and I was trying to protect you by keeping you in the dark, but maybe that wasn’t the best idea?”

Tony leaned back, removing his arms and looked Peter square in the face, the teenager looking back.

“Do you want me to tell you what’s going on?” Tony asked and Peter nodded.

“Okay, can we go down to Steve’s spare room? I don’t really want you up here.” Tony asked, and Peter nodded again.

Tony put an arm around Peter’s shoulder and Peter almost choked up, not even an hour earlier, he hadn’t thought he would feel that again. He let Tony steer him to the elevator and then down to Steve’s spare room. Once they reached Steve’s floor, they headed into the spare room.

“Under the covers.” Tony instructed Peter when he went to sit on the bed. Tony pulled the covers back and pushed the teenager under them. Peter obeyed, putting a pillow underneath his back so he was sitting up. Tony sat on the bed next to him, leaning his back against the wall so he was facing Peter.

“What do you want to know?” Tony asked and Peter thought for a moment.

“Why do you keep having meetings that you won’t tell me about?”

“They are with government officials.” Tony hesitated before talking. “They’ve been threatening to take you away.”

“What? Why?” Peter asked. “Is that why you won’t let me leave?”

“It is. We were told if you got out again, that they wouldn’t let you come back.” Tony replied.

“But why?” Peter was immensely confused.

“There’s been a number of news articles and reporters saying that we are keeping you here against your will and that you aren’t safe with us.”

Peter felt his jaw drop as he stared at Tony.

“We aren’t letting them take you kid, Barton even threatened the secretary with his bow, but that’s why I can’t let you go anywhere.”

“What did they say about the attack the other day?” Peter asked, needing to know.

“That we left you alone. There was no mention of Pepper or Happy or your friends.” Tony replied.

“Who is writing all of these articles?” Peter asked.

“It’s a reporter with the Daily News. His assistant showed up here earlier with documents, and we were looking through them in the lab. Steve, Natasha, Bruce, Sam and Clint are all still down there now looking through them.”

“What kind of documents?” Peter asked curiously. Lying in his bed under the warm covers after an exhausting and emotion-filled morning was making his eyes start to droop but he was determined to stay awake to talk to Tony.

“Documents pertaining to the Senator who collapsed the building on you and Steve, and who orchestrated the attacks on all of us.” Tony replied.

Peter felt his eyelids droop again but he jerked awake, forcing them up and open.

“You can sleep Pete.” Tony said, smiling slightly. “I know you were up early and JARVIS has been telling me all about your nightmares.”

“No.” Peter shot back, shaking his head to try and wake himself up. “I want to know more. Have you found who killed May?”

“We think that was the Senator too.”

“Is it just the reporter and the Senator?” Peter asked, once again forcing his eyes open.

“Lie down kid. You’re falling asleep sitting up.” Tony reached behind Peter and pulled the cushion out from behind his back, helping Peter lie back until he was flat on his back.

“No.” Peter mumbled, forcing his eyes open again. “Is it just the reporter and the Senator?”

“You’re stubborn kid. No, we believe Secretary Ross and his assistant are involved and there are likely more. We’re hoping the documents help us find some information to figure-”

Peter’s eyes closed again and when he tried to open them, his body wouldn’t respond. He wasn’t fully asleep but half-way there, and enough that Tony must have thought he was asleep as he stopped talking. Peter lay there for a few moments before he heard another person come into the room.

“Hi.” Pepper said. Peter felt Tony shift slightly on the bed, being careful not to jostle Peter’s legs.

“Hi.” Tony said.

“How is he?” Pepper asked and Peter thought she must have meant him.

“Exhausted. But okay. My plan to get him to fall asleep worked.”

“He really thought you were kicking him out.”

“I know.” Peter felt Tony’s hand touch his head, and then rest there tracing little circles in Peter’s hair with his fingers.

“You’re doing wonderfully with him.”

“I love him. More than anyone I’ve ever loved, except you.” Peter assumed he wasn’t supposed to have heard that. Tony didn’t exactly express his feelings freely, and it warmed Peter from the inside. He loved Tony too, but to hear the man actually say it warmed him.

There was a pause and quiet fell before Pepper spoke again.

“We’re going to have to have another press conference.”

“Why?”

“Because the press is starting to go wild with theories. We need to shut it down.”

“Do you need me there?”

“I need Peter there.” Peter felt Tony shift sharply at that, jostling Peter’s legs. He moaned half-asleep at the movement and Tony patted his legs. “Sorry Pete.” Tony whispered. There was silence for a few moments, Tony and Pepper obviously waiting to see if he stirred again. The darkness of full sleep was beckoning and Peter was headed fully towards it. Tony and Pepper’s voices faded out as Peter’s world went completely dark.

-

A hand was shaking him gently, bringing him out from the darkness. Peter groaned and shoved his head into the pillow. The person above him laughed gently and continued shaking him. Peter shook his head.

“I will pull that pillow and your covers away if you don’t open your eyes kid.”

Peter sighed as he opened his eyes and turned his head to see Tony standing over him. The man looked more alert than he had when Peter had seen him earlier.

“Hi kid.” Tony said.

“Hi.” Peter rubbed his eyes as he sat up. “What time is it?”

“6pm. You slept for 4 hours. No nightmares at all.” Tony replied.

“They normally happen at night.” Peter said.

“I’ll be here if they happen tonight kid.” Tony stated and Peter shook his head.

“You should be with Pepper, not me.” Peter protested.

“Nope. I’m staying in here tonight. That chair is remarkably comfortable.” Tony pointed to the armchair that was in the corner of the room.

“Tony- no.” Peter tried to protest but Tony reached over and put his hand on Peter’s mouth cutting him off. Peter stuck his tongue out and licked the man’s hand. Tony made a gagging noise and pulled his hand away, wiping his palm on Peter’s face.

“You are a disgusting child.” Tony said and Peter surprised himself with the laughter that came out of his mouth.

“I did come in here for a reason before you distracted me.” Tony said. “Pepper set up a press conference for an hour from now, and you need to be there.”

Peter stopped laughing and looked up at Tony. He didn’t want to talk to people who he didn’t know. Tony looked at his face and sighed, sitting down next to the teenager.

“I know you don’t want to but people are talking. There are people out there genuinely worried about you, but others making shit up. It won’t last long- you just need to make an appearance and answer a few questions.”

“What do I say?” I don’t want to say the wrong thing?” Peter asked. He didn’t want to be taken away if he said the wrong thing.

“If you can’t answer a question or feel unsure about one, Pepper or I will answer it. We are going to instruct people they cannot ask about your aunt. Okay?”

Peter nodded and Tony patted his legs as he got back up.

“There’s Pizza out here so come and eat. But take a shower first- you’re gross.” Peter laughed again as Tony made a sign of Peter being stinky.

Tony left the room, shutting the door behind him and Peter jumped into the shower. He washed his hair quickly, his stomach growling as he did so. He jumped out of the shower and threw on a pair of jeans and a t-shirt, layering it with a grey pullover sweater before walking out into the living area, toweling his hair dry as he did so.

The smell of pizza hit him as he rounded the corner into the living room. Tony, Pepper, Steve, Clint, Natasha, Scott and Thor were all sitting in the living area, scattered around and all with Pizza.

“Peter!” Clint called out upon seeing the teenager. Peter smiled and waved before heading over to the pizza boxes. He helped himself to 4 pieces before sitting down between Tony and Thor who were on the couch.

“No more Stinky Pete.” Tony commented.

“I love that movie!” Peter said and Tony shook his head. “You would.”

“I don’t understand that comment.” Thor stated and Peter shook his head, shoving Pizza down his throat.

“Peter?” Pepper called and he looked at her.

“Tony explained that if you don’t feel comfortable, we’ll step in?” She asked and Peter nodded, mouthful of Pizza.

“There’s 20 different press people in the room, and I do want to let you know that the Daily News Reporter is there too. If he asks you questions beyond what they are supposed to ask, Tony will step in, okay?”

“Wait, they’re already there? It’s only 6:30.” Steve commented.

“I may have told them it was at 6.” Tony said shrugging.

At 6:50, Pepper, Tony, Thor, and Steve all headed down to the first floor for the press conference. Peter had gelled down his hair so it wasn’t wild and he had put shoes on. The anxiety was in his chest, and his fingers were trembling. He put his hands at his side in fists, trying to calm the shaking.

“Hey kid, you’ll be okay. Steve almost threw a punch last time defending you, and you also have Thor in there as well as Pepper and I.” 

Peter nodded trying to take deep breaths. He nodded to Pepper who opened the doors to the conference room and he stepped in behind her and Tony.  

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yep, so Peter finally knows everything. And I wrote sleepy Peter once again. I apparently just can't not write sleepy Peter...
> 
> Please let me know how you felt about this chapter. :) It's a bit slower for sure, but the next one brings some action, and then we go into the conclusion for the next few chapters after that! I can't believe i'm almost done with this story, but definitely not this series!


	15. Chapter Fifteen

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So here is the press conference. And the last chapter before stuff starts to happen... the next one is pretty action-filled.
> 
> Disclaimer as usual- I own nothing.

Peter took a deep breath as he entered the room, the lights flashing and hurting his eyes. The warm presences of Steve and Thor behind him gave him the courage to push forward into the room. There were shouts of his name from all different areas and Tony stood in front of him, blocking him from view momentarily.

“You have all been briefed on the rules. You know what to ask Peter and what not to ask Peter. If you ask him anything not allowed, we will be happy to ask you to leave.” Pepper was at the podium talking to the crowd as they quieted down.

“She is most terrifying.” Peter heard Thor say behind him and he muffled a smile.  

“Peter?” Pepper motioned to Peter as Tony stepped to his side. Peter took a deep breath and swallowed as he walked to stand next to Pepper. Instantly there were shouts for his name, and he felt overwhelmed. 

“Just point at someone Peter.” Tony murmured to him from where he was standing on his other side. Peter pointed to a woman sitting in the front row. She stood up and held out a recording device towards him.

“Peter, how are you doing after you were attacked?”

“I’m okay.” Peter replied, not knowing what else to say. He pointed at another woman sitting nearer to the back. She also stood up.

“Are you being held here against your will?”

“No!” Peter said quickly. “Tony and Pepper and all the Avengers have been wonderful and I am glad that I have them.”

“But they won’t let you out?”

“They are doing that for my safety.”

Peter pointed to a man who was leaning against the wall. The man stood to his full attention and Peter heard Tony swear under his breath.

“Mark Smith-“ The man started and Peter immediately interrupted him.

“You’re the one writing the awful articles.” 

“Is that your opinion, or the opinion that has been forced into your head by the soon- to be disbanded Avengers?” Mark replied.

“My opinion. Your articles are absolutely nonsense.” Peter shot out. He wouldn’t normally spar with an adult like this, but he needed to defend the people who had been taking care of him, especially Pepper and Tony. 

“So Tony Stark isn’t feeding you words to say?” Mark shot back.

“I am my own person. And I’ve been a Superhero.” Peter replied quickly. 

“Ah yes, lets talk about that. You’re Spiderman. Was that Tony Stark’s doing?” Mark asked. Peter stared at him for a few moments before replying.

“What do you have against Tony exactly?” 

“Just answer the question.” Mark said.

“I was bitten by a radioactive spider. Tony helped me when I was just starting, and he gave me the suit to help protect me.” Peter replied. “He did not create me.” 

“So-“ Mark tried to talk again, and Pepper stepped up to cut him off.

“Enough from you.” 

Peter turned away from the man and pointed to a woman on the other side of the room. She stood up and smiled at Peter.

“I am sorry for all that you have gone through lately Peter. Anyone can tell that you have had a tough time of it. What has been the best part about being Spiderman?”

Peter instantly warmed to the woman and her genuine smile, even though she was asking him about being Spiderman which was not necessarily something he wanted to think about. 

“The best part was being able to help people. It was a great responsibility and one that I enjoyed.” Peter replied honestly.

“You mention was? Are you not going to be Spiderman anymore?” Peter could tell the woman was not being nosy, but asking genuinely.

Peter felt Tony take a step behind him as though to say something but he shook his head and the man stopped. 

“I’ve taken a step back from Spiderman. I don’t know if I will be back.” Peter said honestly. He still had no interest at all in being back in the suit, all of his thoughts going towards May and his inability to protect her, leading her to become a target.

“That is completely understandable. Before I’m done, I want to thank you on behalf of Queens, for being our Spiderman.” The woman smiled again before she sat back down. 

Peter pointed to another man who stood up.

“Hi Peter.”

“Hi.”

“I know we weren’t supposed to talk about your aunt but we were just wondering if you could maybe tell us about her? There hasn’t been much talk about the woman she was?”

Pepper moved beside Peter, clearly ready to stop the man but Peter shook his head. He wanted to talk about his aunt.

“She was one of the most wonderful women and I was lucky to have her and my Uncle when I lost my parents. She was so strong, loving, caring and was always there for me whenever I needed her. I’ve lost a lot of people in my life but she was the hardest. When she found out about Spiderman, she only wanted to protect me at first, and then she accepted that it was something I had to do and then she only supported me.” Peter said. He choked up a little at the end before smiling. “And she smacked him, if that tells you how tough she is.” Peter pointed at Tony who laughed unexpectedly.

“Why did she smack him?” The reporter asked curiously.

“When she found out about Spiderman, she found out that Mr Stark had been helping me. She was not very happy, and she smacked him.” 

“It hurt, let me tell you.”  Tony chimed in and most of the reporters laughed. 

“But then she accepted it and that he was helping me, and they became friends.” Peter chimed in. He didn’t want anyone having any reason to talk badly about Tony. 

Peter went to motion to another reporter but before he could, he was interrupted by a male voice.

“What’s the real reason behind you not being Spiderman again? Is Tony Stark not allowing you?” Peter turned his head back to Mark who had spoken. 

“I see why you want to punch people during these.” Thor said behind him, most likely to Steve, and Peter had to muffle the smile again. Mark was looking at him with a smirk on his face.

“No.” Peter was really getting irritated by the man. “I told you- Tony is not keeping me here against my will, he is not and never will force me to do anything against my will. So stop asking. I don’t know what you have against him but know this- he is one of the most genuine, caring, patient, generous people I have ever met and he has helped me more than anyone can guess over the last month, since my aunt passed away. He is much more than what you and any others seem to think of him. So whatever it is that you have against him, get over it.” Peter turned to Pepper and motioned towards the doors. Peter was done. 

She nodded and stepped towards the podium as Peter took a step back. As he stepped back, he noticed Mark Jones suddenly look at his phone and then move quickly towards the exit of the room, not turning back around. Before he could question that any further, Pepper was at the podium and talking.  

“That is all for today. You can all leave the same way you came in.” Pepper walked over to the rest of the group as they exited the room. Tony was looking at Peter with a strange expression on his face. They walked through the doors and Tony instructed JARVIS to lock them to make sure no one came through. Clint, Scott, Sam, Rhodey and Natasha were all standing there waiting for them. 

Tony then turned towards Peter and gathered the surprised teenager into his arms, holding him against his chest.

“Um, Tony?” Peter asked confused. “Why are you hugging me right now?” 

“Because.” Tony replied. 

“Was what I said okay?” Peter asked, suddenly worried.

“More than okay.” Pepper replied. 

“That guy is such an asshole.” Steve remarked. 

“Are you okay?” Natasha asked looking at Peter. He nodded as he broke away from Tony’s hold. He felt a lot better than he would have anticipated after the conference. Being able to talk about both Tony and May in a positive light had helped with that. 

Tony’s phone rang, surprising them all. Peter watched him look at it and then at Steve and Clint. 

“It’s Miss Jones.” 

“Answer it!” Steve instructed. “Put it on speaker!” 

Tony did as Steve instructed. “Miss Jones?”

The voice coming from the other end sounded like she was out of breath.

“Tony!” 

“Megan, what’s wrong?” Clint called out. 

“Mark knows. He knows I took information. He’s trying to find me.” The woman’s voice was cutting in and out.

“Where are you?” Steve called out. 

“JARVIS, find her location! Get a car sent to her NOW!” Tony yelled out.

“No! I’m moving! I’m running towards the Tower.” Megan shouted into the phone. 

JARVIS announced where Megan was running and Steve and Clint both took off, running to the staircase to get outside and to the woman before her boss could get to her. 

“Steve and Clint are coming. Keep running Miss Jones.” Tony instructed.

“He’s right on my tail.” The woman called back. “I can see the Tower.” 

There was a loud commotion on the other side of the phone and a lot of yelling before Megan’s voice came back on. 

“Steve’s here. He may have punched someone?” 

“He does that.” Sam responded dryly. 

“Tony?” Steve’s voice came on the other side of the phone. “I’ve got her. Clint and I are on our way back. I saw Mark Smith but he disappeared once I grabbed Megan.”

“Get her back here and we’ll discuss.” Tony said as he hung up the phone. There was silence as everyone tried to catch up with what had just happened. 

“Is she the one who gave us this information?” Natasha asked after a moment, breaking the silence and Peter saw Tony nod as he set his phone back on the table.

“So if this reporter guy knows we have information, this could completely ruin all this information we have?” Scott asked. 

“We need to move quickly.” Rhodey said.

“We still don’t even know where the Senator is!” Tony shot out looking frustrated. 

“I think someone told him about the files being leaked?” Peter suggested, suddenly remembering the reporter leaving quickly.

“Why do you say that?” Tony asked.

“Right before Pepper called the end of the conference, I saw him look at his phone and go to the exit quickly. I think someone or something told him.” Peter suggested. 

“That makes sense for him to have known so quickly. He wouldn’t have even gotten back to the office to find her yet.” Rhodey commented and Tony nodded. 

“Their office is only a few blocks away. But he still wouldn’t have gotten back and been able to check his files and computer that quickly. Nice eyes.” Rhodey explained to Peter who nodded. This was so much more involved than he could ever have imagined. 

A silence fell over the group for a few moments before JARVIS spoke up. 

“Captain Rogers, Mr Barton and Miss Jones are arriving back at the Tower.” JARVIS announced and everyone let out a collective sigh of relief. 

Peter watched as the elevator opened and Clint and Steve exited, followed by a young woman who Peter recognized almost immediately from somewhere. He stared at her trying to figure out where.

“Peter, this is Megan Jones. She said you saved her life a few months ago.” Tony said realizing what Peter was trying to figure out, and Peter looked at the woman again. 

“You were in an alley with those three guys!” Peter said and the woman nodded.

“And you saved my life after my stupid decision to take that alley. Thank you immensely Peter.” Megan said sincerely and Peter blushed, looking away. 

“Megan says she has more documents.” Steve said and the woman turned back to the rest of the group. She pulled her bag from her shoulder and set it down on the table.

“I also have my laptop. I copied documents from Mark’s computer to mine, and that’s when he must have been alerted. I don’t know if it was his computer or another person. He texted me to stay where I was, and I knew he knew.” Megan explained as she pulled her laptop open. “If it hadn’t been for one of the other writers deliberately distracting him at the entrance, I would not have gotten out. You should know there’s more than just me at the Daily News who believes in all of you still.” 

Peter moved forward as everyone else crowded around Megan’s laptop. 

“This name stuck out to me. I recognized it from a story Mark wrote about before.” Megan pointed at a name on the screen, and Peter saw the name and gasped. Steve and Tony looked at each other and Sam swore followed by Natasha, Thor and Clint all rushing out of the room. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Don don don!!! Who is it?! Feel free to leave your guesses in the comments as to who the person is!


	16. Chapter Sixteen

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alrighty, so here is a pretty action-filled chapter and the revealing of the other person behind the attack! Hopefully it wasn't too obvious, or too out of left field either.
> 
> Disclaimer: As per usual, I own nothing

 “What is wrong with you?!” Pepper shouted out at the police officer as Clint and Thor manhandled the man into the room, making no effort at being gentle. Bruce followed them in, looking extremely pissed off.

“There’s a number of things, you’ll have to be more specific I’m afraid.” The man replied smugly, a smirk on his face.

“Can I punch him?” Thor asked as he looked at Steve who shook his head. Thor looked disappointed as he and Clint pushed Stewart into a chair.

“Why are you involved in this?” Tony asked. He had been betrayed many times before but was still dumbfounded as he looked at the police officer sitting on the chair. The police officer who had been with the team since the very beginning, and who Tony had known for years before that. Someone who had high security clearance for the team and the Tower.

“Because I wanted to be.”

“Why did you kill my aunt?” Peter’s voice chimed up. Tony looked over at the teenager who looked devastated. His face was pale and his eyes looked slightly wet. It was a complete turnaround from how Peter had looked just a few moments before after the conference.

“Oh I didn’t do that.” Stewart responded flippantly. Clint growled and launched himself forward, Natasha catching him just before he reached Stewart.

“Why did she have to die?!” Peter yelled out as the tears started to flow down his cheeks. Tony walked over to him and put his arm around him, pulling him so Peter was leaning against his chest, one arm around the teens’ chest. Peter didn’t fight him, just stared at the police officer.

“She didn’t actually.”

“What?” Steve shot out.

“She didn’t have to die. If you had gotten there quick enough, you could have saved her. You weren’t quick enough there Spiderman.” Stewart deliberately targeted the teenager and Peter flinched violently in Tony’s grip. 

“Shut your mouth!” Clint yelled angrily.

Stewart laughed. “I mean, it’s the truth. You weren’t quick enough.”

“I was pinned under a building!” Peter shouted out. Tony tightened his grip around the teenager as he flinched under his arm again.

“That’s not my fault.” Stewart taunted.

Tony felt the wet dripping on his arm coming from Peter’s eyes as the teenager shook underneath him. He put his head down to Peter’s ear and started to whisper.

“Don’t listen to him kid. This was not your fault at all. Not at all. He’s trying to rile you up.”

Peter nodded underneath him, his chest heaving as he tried to take deep breaths.

“I don’t get it. Why are you involved in this?” Scott asked.

“Is your partner involved too?” Natasha asked.

“That idiot? Of course not. She’s not intelligent enough for this. It was suggested she join in and I shut that down extremely quickly.” Stewart scoffed.

“And what exactly is this?” Steve asked.

“Isn’t it obvious? Taking all of you down.”

“Have you been in on this since the beginning? Since you started working with us?” Pepper asked.

“Somewhat.”

“Stop being so damn vague!” Clint shouted out and Stewart laughed.

“Oh am I annoying you? I am so sorry, that is so not my intention.” Stewart said mockingly.   "It really pays to have access to the tower. It's how I got access to the kid's DNA, and we got that substance in him. I would have preferred that we take him, but of course two of you had to intervene in that. I wish I could have seen the reactions to the drug, if it really caused what we had planned to happen."

"Why would you drug him? He's a kid." Steve asked.

 

"He's also Spider-Man and one of the most important people in your life. It's obvious."

 

"So you drew all of us away to leave Peter, Natasha and Clint alone so you could come and drug Peter and try to take him from us?" Bruce inquired.

 

"Exactly."

 

"You underestimated Clint and Natasha then." Tony said, feeling a little smugness along with the anger.

 

"Unfortunately yes. But i'm sure you still all suffered, watching the kid suffer from the hallucinations that the substance was supposed to cause."

“How are you connected with Senator Dean and Secretary Ross?” Pepper shouted.

“They recognized my brilliance. Nothing more.” Stewart replied. “Something no one else seems to have recognized. I’m way smarter than all of you.”

“What was the reason for all of this? Why did you go after Peter so strongly?” Tony asked.

“I just said, we went after him to hurt you all. And other reasons.”

"What other reasons?" Scott asked.

"That's not my story to tell."

Before anyone could do anything, Steve strode forward and threw a punch into Stewart’s face. The man slumped over in the chair, head dropped down onto his knees and arms laying limp to his sides.

“Steve!” Pepper gasped out as everyone stared at the soldier. Steve shrugged as he walked away to the other side of the room.  

“We should look at these papers.” Rhodey said and Tony looked to where he was standing with Megan who was looking nervous about what had transpired.

“JARVIS, keep an eye on him. If he even moves a muscle, you let us know.” Tony instructed the AI as everyone turned back to the table, and the documents that Megan had brought. Tony kept his arm around Peter as he turned them both away from the officer.

“I need a minute.” Bruce said as he walked out of the room. Tony turned his head towards Pepper who nodded as she followed the man out, to talk to him. Tony looked down at Peter who hadn’t spoken a word.

“Are you okay with staying in here? Or do you want to go upstairs?”

“I’m okay. I want to stay down here.” Peter whispered and Tony nodded. He rubbed his hand up and down the teenagers’ arm. Peter had stopped crying but he kept glancing over at the man who was still slumped over in the chair.

“Miss Jones, can you tell us what all of these say?” Steve asked, coming back to the table.

“It’s transactions between my boss and that Senator and that police officer. It’s dating back to about 3 months ago.” Megan replied. “I didn’t get the chance to read them all, but all of you are definitely mentioned, Peter is mentioned a lot.” Megan said, as she looked at the teenager with a sympathetic look.

“Does it say anywhere why they did this?” Sam questioned.

“Mark said it was something to do with the senators granddaughter? I think she was involved with something in Queens and she was hurt.” Megan replied.

“And he was angry about that?” Scott asked.

“He believes Spiderman should have saved her.” Natasha said. She was holding up a few of the papers in her hands and she lowered them as she spoke.

“This is email communication. Senator Dean says he is angry with Spiderman for not being there to assist. He's angry with all the Avengers for being who we are, but he's mostly angry with Spider-Man since Queens is his area.”

“When did this happen?” Thor asked.

“May of last year. It doesn’t say specifically.”

Tony glanced down at Peter to see him looking crushed. He opened his mouth to talk but Thor beat him to it.

“Peter can’t possibly be everywhere at once. I am sure our young spider was somewhere saving someone else.”

“But I should have been there.” Peter whispers.

“No.” Numerous people chime out as Peter covered his face with his hands. Tony felt him start to shake under him and he could tell the teenager was crying again.

“We’re going upstairs.” Tony announced as he pulled Peter with him, leaving the room. Peter didn’t fight him as they headed to the elevator, keeping his face covered.

“We’ll keep looking.” Rhodey said as JARVIS opened the elevator doors. Tony pulled them both into the elevator and JARVIS took them up to Steve’s floor.

Once they got to the floor, Tony directed them both over to the couch. He pushed Peter down onto the couch and headed to the kitchen to find mugs and make some hot chocolate for the teenager.

When he got back to the couch, Peter hadn’t moved from where he was curled up, still using his hands to cover his face.

“Kid.” Tony said as he squeezed the kids’ shoulder. Peter took his hands away from his face and looked at Tony. He sighed as he took in the kids’ red rimmed eyes and devastated expression.

“None of that was your fault kid.” Tony started and Peter interrupted him.

“If I had been there, I could have saved May. She wouldn’t be dead, and she’d be here.” Peter whispered.

“You don’t know that kid. And Peter, no matter what, the Senators reaction is completely out of control. Going after your aunt in an apparent retribution is not okay. You are only one person, you cannot be in more than one place at a time. I guarantee you all of us have people that we could have saved but weren’t able to.” Tony was  flying by the seat of his pants as he talked to the teenager, trying to determine if what he was saying would have any impact. Peter had stopped crying as Tony handed him the mug of hot chocolate, and he took the mug and wrapped his hands around it.

Tony stayed sitting next to Peter in the silence for a few moments before Peter spoke up.  
“Am I ever going to stop missing her?”

“Do you still miss your uncle?” Tony asked and Peter nodded.

 “Not as much as I used to, but I still have days.”

“This’ll be the same kid. The pain will always be there, but it’ll lessen a little with time. It’s still only been just over a month kid. You’re doing unbelievably well. I was a mess when I lost my parents- for months.” Tony said and Peter shook his head.

“Pete, you are. I’m so proud of you.”

The elevator doors opened and as Tony looked up, he saw Scott, Steve and Clint rushing into the room.

“We found the Senator.”

“Where is he??!” Tony said as he jumped up from the couch.

“He’s in a cabin in Maryland.” Steve replied. “We’re going to get him now. Pepper and Happy are staying here with Stewart. He’s currently restrained and in one of the conference rooms.”

Tony nodded as he turned around to the teenager. He found Peter up on his feet, hot chocolate mug forgotten on the table.

“I’m coming.” Peter announced.

“You are?” Clint asked looking surprised and Peter nodded.

“I- I don’t want to be Spiderman again but I can’t stand by and let you all go without me.”

“Are you sure this is a good idea Pete?” Steve asked and Peter nodded again.

“I’m coming.”

“Your suit is in the jet.” Tony commented. He squeezed Peter’s shoulder as the group headed back to the elevator and up to the jet where the others were already getting ready to go.  

“Are you sure you’re okay for this kid?” Tony asked the teenager as they sat next to one another on the jet. Peter had his suit on, minus his mask and Tony watched him fiddle with the edge of the mask.

“No. But I can’t do nothing.” Peter replied and Tony reached over to ruffle the kids’ hair.

\--

Bruce and Clint were at the controls of the jet and before too long, they were landing in some woods. Bruce opted to stay in the jet as the rest of the group exited the jet.

“That is not a cabin.” Scott commented as the group came to a sudden halt, all of them looking ahead. Ahead of them was a mansion. As the group stood there, Tony scoped the area. The mansion looked to be at least 20 rooms long with no telling how wide it was. There was a tall gated area that was topped with barbed wire and Tony could see at least 10 armed men patrolling the outside.

“No that is indeed not a cabin.” Clint said agreeably.

“Cap?” Tony asked.

“Rhodey, Thor, Tony, you fly above the gates and get in. We need those gates open for the rest of us to get in.”

“That gate is all you Thor. It’s likely electrified.” Rhodey said.

Tony nodded his agreement and he took to the air with Thor and Rhodey. He could hear Steve talking behind him and he glanced back at Peter to see the teenager standing at full attention. He couldn’t see his face through the mask but he could see Peter clenching his fists at his side.

In the next moment, Tony was focused back on the mansion as they had been spotted and bullets were flying up to them. He and Rhodey used their repulsors to shoot at the men, while Thor focused on electrifying the gate to get it open.

“Gate is open!” Thor yelled out and Tony watched as the gate entrance swung forward. The Avengers on the ground ran through and started going at it with the men on the other side.

Tony made sure to keep an eye on the team below him, especially on the teenager. Peter was swinging around between the building and the gate, webbing guns out of men’s arms and throwing them up onto the roof of the building with all of his strength.

“Hey uh Tony?” Rhodey’s voice said and he dragged his eyes from Peter to the other man in the sky, Thor having dropped down to the ground to deal with the men streaming out of the mansion doors.

“Do you see that?” Tony looked up to see a black cloud rising from behind the mansion. As they watched, the black cloud separated and then there were multiple bird-like creatures headed in their direction.

“This’ll be fun.” Tony commented as he and Rhodey shot forward towards them. Tony dodged between a few of them firing his repulsors. A few of them fell to the ground, crushing the soldiers on the ground beneath them.

There was a sudden sharp pain in Tony’s shoulder, and he yelled out instinctively, firing out and hitting one of the wings of the birds. He had been grazed by one of the claws on the birds and the metal in his shoulder was melting. Tony could see through to his shoulder and could both see and feel the blood that was running down his arm.

“Tony?” Peter called out, sounding alarmed.

“I’m okay. Rhodey, the claws cut through our metal. Be careful.” Tony replied.

“Understood.” Rhodey called back out.

“How could they possibly do that?” Steve asked. He sounded slightly out of breath and when Tony took a glance down, he could see Steve fighting multiple men.

“I don’t know, but they must have gotten the specs somehow.” Tony replied. He honestly had no idea how the claws were biting through the metal.

“JARVIS, scour the files. Check who has been inside- look to see if Stewart accessed any files.”

“Guys, question.” Sam suddenly chirped up.

“Sam, answer.” Tony replied.

“Can we consider clones here? These men just keep coming and I’ve looked at some of them and they seem far too similar.” Sam asked.

“I think the birds might be clones too.” Rhodey commented. “New swarm coming in Tones.”

Tony looked back to behind the mansion and there was indeed a new swarm of birds heading towards them. He sighed as he prepared himself.

“How could Dean have possibly gotten cloning capacity?” Natasha questioned.

“Remember the robots?” Tony called out. “What if that was more planned than we thought?”

“That makes sense.” Clint agreed

“They were all identical to one another.” Thor suggested.

“So the scientists were not as innocent as they claimed.” Steve said angrily.

“Whatever it is, we need to do something. They just keep coming.” Scott said. “We can’t get inside.”

“I have an idea!” Peter called out and Tony looked down at him, instructing JARVIS to keep an eye on any birds that got close to him.

Peter shot up a web at one of the windows and yanked himself up to the window, launching himself at it. The moment his feet hit the window, there was an explosion and Peter flew backwards, amidst broken glass. The group on the floor all threw their arms up to protect their faces. The smoke obscured Tony’s view for a moment and he panicked.

“Peter!” Tony called out frantically, trying to see through the smoke.

“That didn’t go to plan.” Peter called out a few moments later, coughing slightly as he emerged from the smoke and Tony’s relief overpowered the concern.

“Are you okay?” Steve asked as he reached Peter’s side and gave him a quick glance over.

“I’m fine. But that is not a way to get in.” Peter replied and Steve nodded. Tony drew his attention back to the birds that were still swarming in the sky. He couldn’t see Rhodey through the masses as he tried to prevent the birds from getting close to him again.

“Thor, could use some help right now.” Rhodey called out after a few moments of fighting, and Tony looked over at his friend. Thor was on the ground but at Rhodey’s request, he pointed his hammer up and sent lightning up to all of the birds that were around Rhodey. The birds all fell to the ground but within a moment Rhodey was surrounded again.

Thor’s attention was drawn back to the ground as the soldiers surrounded him, trying to take advantage of him being distracted.

“We have to get inside!” Steve yelled out.

Thor yelled and in the next moment, there was a lightning strike that took down the soldiers next to him. He pointed his hammer at the door and a moment later, all the men swarming out of the door were down.

“Sam, Nat, Peter, inside with me. Now!” Steve yelled out and Tony saw the four of them disappear into the building, yanking aside fallen men as they climbed up the stairs and inside. Tony’s anxiety rose when Peter went out of sight, but he pushed it down to focus on the birds and the soldiers who had started shooting up at him and Rhodey. He had Peter’s vitals on his side display, so he knew the kid was mostly okay.

“Sir, I found evidence that Stewart was accessing files.” JARVIS broke into Tony’s thoughts. “Including information about your suits. He broke through the protections with his security clearance Sir.”

“It’s confirmed Stewart was inside the files.” Tony announced to the team, as he continued to shoot down birds. There were arrows flying and he noticed that Clint had found a tree to climb up and was aiming at both birds and men from there, ducking from bullets as the men realized where he was.

Scott and Thor were on the ground keeping the men’s attention but Tony noticed there didn’t seem to be as many as there had been before the group had gone inside and they were making progress.

“What’s that?” Sam asked.

“Check it out.” Natasha replied.

“What’s going on?” Rhodey called out.

“What is that?” Sam asked again. “Should I press it?”

“Press what?” Thor asked, as he swung his hammer around, causing a group of men to fly in the air.

“There’s a room with tons of equipment- looks like it could be cloning equipment. There’s a button here on one of the machines.” Sam replied.

“And you want to hit it? We have no idea what it could do.” Clint asked. “What if it blows up the entire building with all of you inside it? That’s a stupid plan.”

“It’s the only one we have right now!” Sam called back. “I’m going to push it.”

“Sam!” Steve called out.

There was silence and then the birds swarming Tony suddenly fell out of the sky and plummeted to the ground, crushing the men on the ground below them.

“What just happened?” Thor asked. Tony looked to the ground to see all of the men who had previously been attacking lying on the ground.

“You all okay in there?” Clint called out and there was an affirmative from Sam, Steve and Natasha.

“Pete?” Tony called out when there was no response from the teenager. He checked the vitals on his screen to see that there was no change.

“What’s going on out there?” Natasha called.

“The birds and men all just stopped.” Scott replied. “Pushing that button must have done that.”

“That was stupid Sam.” Steve said harshly.

“I’m aware, but it worked.” Sam replied.

“You got lucky!” Steve replied.

“Peter?” Tony called again, after there was still no response from the teenager.

“Anyone have eyes on Pete?” Scott called out after there was more silence.

“Pete?” Tony called out again. His heart began to race with the anxiety of not hearing the teenager saying anything.

He and Rhodey both landed on the ground, amidst all the fallen soldiers and birds joining Scott and Thor. Clint climbed out of the tree and joined them, slinging his bow behind him onto his back. Tony retracted his face plate at the same time Rhodey did and he saw the concern on Rhodey’s face.

“Steve?” Clint called out. “You see him?”

There was a few moments of silence and then Steve called out over the comms.

“I see the Senator!”

“Where are you?!” Natasha called.

“Second floor! Near the west entrance.” Steve called back.

“We’re coming!” Sam said.

 “Peter! Eyes on Peter!” Steve suddenly yelled out.

“Where?” Tony shouted.

“Following the Senator. Peter, stop! Stop!”

Tony’s heart stopped as JARVIS chimed in his ear. “Sir, Peter just activated Instant Kill Mode.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So after this, there is only one more chapter unless i go completely wild with that last chapter, but I shouldn't.
> 
> HOWEVER, I will not be done with this series. I have ideas for more things to happen after this, ie Peter's identity being revealed and how they go about that after and some others I want to explore.  
> If anyone has any ideas for other one-shots in this AU, please let me know. :)
> 
> Please let me know how you felt about this chapter. :) There are quite a number of you subscribed to this, and I would love to know what brought you to subscribe, and what has kept you here. :)


	17. Chapter Seventeen

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so here is the finale of this! I'm not a huge fan of this ending if i'm honest but here we go. :) 
> 
> Also, remember that this series isn't done with this story, so if you like it, definitely subscribe to the series as a whole! I have a few one-shots planned but not sure when they will all be posted.
> 
> Disclaimer: As usual, I own nothing Marvel or the characters.

“Peter!” Tony yelled out as he rushed into the building, leaving his faceplate up as he did so. He could hear the others’ voices in the comms as they called out but there was no response from Peter.

“Steve! Where is he?” Rhodey called out. 

“He’s just ahead of me. Peter, stop. Let us catch up to you!” Steve yelled. 

“No!” Peter yelled back and the venom in his voice shocked Tony. “No! He took everything from me. I am not letting him get away.”

“Peter, there’s nowhere for him to go! He can’t escape. He has no help. Please let us catch up!” Steve called back.

“Peter, please turn off your Instant Kill!” Tony cried. 

“No!” Peter yelled back.

“I can turn it off on my end but I want you to do it Pete.” Tony said.

“No!”

“JARVIS, disable Instant Kill Mode in Peter’s suit.” Tony called out, and a moment later Peter howled over the comms.

“Why would you do that?!” Peter called out. “Karen, reactivate Instant Kill!”

“It won’t work Pete. It’s completely deactivated.” Tony explained. 

“Stop! Senator, you’re completely trapped. You can’t go anywhere.” Steve shouted out as Peter yelled at almost the same time.

“We have him. Get in here!” Sam spoke over the comms and Tony flew up the stairs to where JARVIS was showing the location of Sam, Steve, Peter, Nat and the senator. He reached the spot that they were at, and instantly released the suit. He stepped out but left the suit on a sentry mode, always on guard just in case anyone decided to attack. Peter turned around and Tony was shocked to see how angry the teenager looked as he glared at Tony. Steve and Sam were both holding onto the arms of the senator as he struggled to release himself from their strong grip.

“Why would you do this? What did I ever do to you?!” Peter turned back around to the senator and shouted angrily.

“Spiderman failed to save my granddaughter!” The senator spat back.

“So you thought that the right thing to do was to kill his aunt and release his identity, and come after the rest of us at the same time?” Sam asked. “Why was that your mindset?”

“Everyone thinks that the Avengers are so great and so wonderful. Yay Captain America, Yay Iron Man, they are just the most wonderful people ever. Always saving people but causing so much destruction wherever you go, and leaving other people to suffer after you leave your miraculous rescues and escapades.” Dean shouted. “No one ever thinks about the destruction they cause, or the people they don’t save! No one ever thinks about that!”

“Yes we do? Tony has an entire department devoted to clean up after attacks and battles.” Sam protested. “He just doesn’t seem to need to advertise it.”

“We constantly think about the people we lose, or the people we can’t save. We all do!” Steve said. 

“You don’t seem like it!” Dean screamed. 

“Just because we don’t show it, doesn’t mean we don’t!” Clint walked into the room with Scott. 

“Thor and Rhodey are watching the perimeter. Not that it seems like anything else is coming.” Scott said to the others as he and Clint looked around the room.

“Everytime we have a mission, we debrief about it. We talk about the people we didn’t save, and how we can help people affected by any damage we left.”  Steve explained.

“Then why didn’t my granddaughter get assistance? Why was she left with injuries that she didn’t survive? Why didn’t my daughter or my family get assistance?!” Dean screamed.

“We didn’t know.” Sam responded.

“YOU SHOULD HAVE!” Dean screamed again as he tried to fight Steve’s grip.

“How did you figure out who Peter is?” Clint asked Dean after a few moments of silence.

“Wasn’t exactly difficult. You are all idiots. Peter spends a lot of time at the Tower, and Spiderman is clearly a teenager. Helped to have help.”  Dean replied.

“Ross, the Reporter and Stewart.” Nat said.

“How long have you been planning this exactly?” Steve asked.

“Since my granddaughter died last year.” Dean answered. “Someone had to pay, but it needed to be effective so I had to wait. And it was so worth it. Beyond worth it.”

Peter screamed as he stepped forward towards the Senator and Steve caught his arm as it sailed through the air. 

“Peter don’t. Your strength could kill him.”

“He killed my aunt! He’s the reason she’s dead! He deserves it!” Peter shouted angrily.

“Peter.” Tony started. He stepped forward to grab Peter’s other arm but without his suit, he was no match for Peter’s strength and the teenager pulled it away easily. “Kid, hurting him is not the answer. He needs to pay for what he’s done, he doesn’t get to have the easy way out. And that is not who you are. You’re good and kind and you actively avoid hurting people even if they hurt you.”

“He hurt everyone else! He killed May.” Peter protested

“I didn’t actually kill your aunt. The building did that.” Dean piped up.

“Shut up.” Sam snapped as he wrenched Dean’s arm and shoulder. Dean groaned and then started to laugh.

“This is just great. All of the Avengers coming to try to catch me.” 

“ _ Trying _ to catch you? I think we have caught you.” Steve replied.

“Maybe right now, but i’ll get off. I’m a senator.” Dean retorted smugly.

“Except that we have actual documents and emails proving your guilt. So you can stop looking so smug.” Natasha said.

Peter pulled away from Steve’s grip and walked across the room away from the rest of the group. Tony shared a glance with Steve and then walked over to see Peter. The teenagers face was turned away but Tony ducked his head to make eye contact. Peter was crying again, the tears silently sliding down his cheeks.

“Kid.” Tony reached out to touch Peter’s cheek and the teenager just closed his eyes against the tears forming in his eyes. 

“I just can’t believe we have him.” Peter whispered. 

“We do. We have everyone involved in this, and no one is skipping their repercussions.” Tony replied. 

“Bruce is waiting in the jet. Should we go?” Steve asked as he tugged on Dean’s arm harshly. The senator stumbled a little, and Steve didn’t even flinch. 

“You okay?” Tony asked Peter who nodded as he reached up to wipe at his eyes. He turned around to get back into the suit to head out of the building with everyone else. Steve and Sam brought out Dean, still yanking him along harshly as they did so.

As Tony reached the jet, Bruce was standing there and green started creeping up his neck when he saw the Senator.

“Calm down big guy. We have him.” Tony patted Bruce’s shoulder and the man nodded as he went back into the jet to start up the engines. Peter came in behind Tony and he threw himself into one of the chairs, his mask back over his face as he hid his face in his arms. Tony sat down next to him as the others all entered the jet. He made eye contact with Steve and Sam and motioned with his head to place Dean as far away as possible. They threw him down in a seat, and handcuffed him to the back of the chair he was in. 

Peter didn’t say a single word to Tony the entire way back to the Tower and Tony didn’t try to engage him in conversation, knowing that he wouldn’t be at all successful. Dean didn’t say anything either, just alternating between giving looks to Steve, Thor and Sam who all glared back at him. 

The jet landed back at the Tower and Tony stayed seated with Peter while Steve, Sam, Thor and Clint escorted Dean out of the plane and into the Tower.

“Pete?” Tony asked after a few moments of the two of them sitting in silence. Peter lifted his head up, still leaving the mask to cover his face. 

“I’m so angry.” Peter muttered. “I’ve never felt like this before Tony. I wanted to hurt the Senator.”

“I know kid.” Tony replied.

“I’ve never wanted to hurt someone like that before.” Peter said.

“He took your aunt from you kid. It’s okay to be angry. I know you kid, I know you wouldn’t actually hurt anyone.” Tony replied. 

“I activated Instant Kill Tony. I wanted to hurt him, and you had to deactivate it. I want you to take it out of the suit.” Peter pulled the mask off to show his face.

“I’m not going to take it out Pete. It’s meant to be a safety feature and I trust you with it.” Tony replied.

“You shouldn’t trust me.” Peter mumbled. Tony shifted himself around so that he was staring Peter in the face.

“I do trust you Pete. I trust you so much.” Tony said trying to convey his feelings to the wrecked looking teenager in front of him.

“Are you both okay?” Pepper asked from behind them and Tony turned around to see her standing at the entrance of the jet. Everyone else had exited the jet and it was just the three of them.

“We are.” Tony replied. 

“What’s happening with Secretary Ross and Stewart and the reporter?” Peter asked Pepper as she came to sit down next to them. 

“They are all currently in holding at SHIELD. Nick is keeping an eye on them for now and Steve and Sam are transporting Senator Dean there now.” Pepper replied and Peter nodded slowly. 

Tony watched as Peter went to stand up and stumbled, putting an arm out to the back of the chair to balance himself. 

“Hey.” Tony stood up quickly as Peter’s legs crumbled beneath him and he started to fall straight down to the ground. Tony caught him and Peter sagged against him, his head lolling against Tony’s arm as his eyes closed and he passed out cold. 

“JARVIS, is Peter hurt?” Tony called out frantically as he adjusted Peter so he had a better hold on him. “Is he hiding an injury?”

 Pepper stepped forward concerned as Tony lifted Peter into the metal arms of the suit. The damaged arm of the suit twinged slightly as he adjusted Peter. The cut had long stopped bleeding but the deep cut was still there on Tony’s arm, and he wasn’t blessed with accelerated healing like some of the others.

“He is not. He is merely suffering from a rather large adrenaline drop.” JARVIS replied and Tony nodded relieved. Peter’s head was resting against Tony’s shoulder and his arms hung limply at his sides. 

“You’re hurt. Rhodey said you were hurt.” Pepper pointed at Tony’s arm that was still twinging.

“It’s nothing. It’ll heal up. Just a bit of a twinge.” Tony answered.

“Lets go get it looked at. He needs rest, and you need to get that looked at.” Pepper suggested and Tony nodded as he slightly adjusted the teenager in his arms to walk down the jet with Pepper.

-

_ In Shocking News Today, it appears that the culprits for Peter Parker aka Spiderman’s reveal have been revealed as Secretary Ross, Ross’ assistant Jason Jackson, Daily News Reporter Mark Smith, Senator Dean and a police officer with the Queens PD- Carson Stewart. The group worked together to attack all of the Avengers, attempted to capture Peter Parker and released his identity, and kidnapped and brought about the death of May Parker. After weeks of speculation towards the Avengers, it appears that they were indeed innocent of all wrongdoing, and that Peter Parker was indeed in safe hands the entire time. A statement came from Pepper Potts, the CEO of Stark Industries earlier this morning asking for privacy for Peter Parker at this time, while he grieves for May Parker, and that he will soon be adopted by Tony Stark and Pepper Potts. They thank the public for their acceptance of this request and won’t hesitate to take action if anyone does anything to the contrary of this statement. There hasn’t been much information given out about the culprits or where they currently are, but we will keep you updated on this story that keeps changing by the day. _

“Well that’s nice to know that we aren’t public enemy #1 anymore.” Clint commented as Steve muted the tv. 

“Can we order 8 pizzas, 4 orders of breadsticks, 4 orders of those brownie things, and 10 liters of soda?” Sam walked into the room talking on the phone as the group all looked up to see him. Tony was sitting next to Rhodey on the couch, answering emails on his phone. The company was feeling a lot more secure now that everything had been taken care of, and the stakeholders were feeling much more reassured now that it was proven that the Avengers hadn’t been behind any of what had transpired.

“Tony, give me a credit card!” Sam called out to Tony who pulled out his wallet and threw it over to Sam. 

“You always make me pay for everything.” He grumbled but there was no heat behind it, and the others all just laughed.

“Where is the kid?” Nat asked as Tony went back to his phone.

“He’s at the cemetery with Pepper. She figured she was the best one to take him right now and he wanted to go and see May’s grave again. They’ll be back soon.” Tony replied.

“Is he okay with this party we’re going to have?” Steve asked. “I mean, we’re celebrating that the situation is over, a situation that his aunt died during.” 

“He says he’s okay with it, and I told him it was more than okay if he decides he wants to leave in the middle of it. I just want to make sure he eats something before he ducks out.” Tony replied.

 He knew he wasn’t the only one who had noticed that the teenager hadn’t eaten much in the week since the group had come back from capturing the Senator, and he also knew he wasn’t the only one who had been trying to force more food down the kids’ throat. 

Peter had been quiet and withdrawn, and all of the Avengers and Pepper had been trying to draw him out of the state he had been in after he had woken up from passing out in Tony’s arms. Peter had responded most strongly to Pepper’s guidance and so she had been going out with him whenever he wanted to leave the Tower. 

“Has he said anything about going out as Spiderman? He used to go out every night didn’t he?” Clint asked.

“Not yet. I don’t know how long it’ll be before he does again.” Tony replied. His phone went off with a text from Pepper and he looked down to see that she was on her way back with Peter and Happy, and that Peter was upset.

“They are on their way back now in fact.”

“Alrighty, Operation Get Peter To Eat Begins.” Scott announced.

“Do not call it that.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So there we go. I really hope it was a satisfying conclusion and that you all enjoyed it.
> 
> If you feel like it, please let me know what you think of the ending or the story as a whole. :) I really like to know what keeps people interested, and I know some of you have been here since the beginning!!

**Author's Note:**

> I'm not sure how long this'll be. I have 16 chapters written already, but I do still have an outline for a few more than that, so we will see. :)  
> I'm planning on updating once a week- either Saturday or Sundays of each week. 
> 
> Feel free to leave any comments if you like. :)


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